GUWAHATI, March 29 � The 23rd Assam Valley Literary Award was conferred on poet Sameer Tanti at a function at the Pragjyoti-ITA cultural complex, Machkhowa, this evening. The award instituted by the Williamson Magor Educational Trust consists of an award, citation and a cheque of Rs 4 lakhs.
The chief guest of the occasion, Dr Pratibha Ray who, along with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, formally presented the honours to Tanti, said that literature alone was the true unifying force.
�Neither religion nor politics unites. It is literature that is the true unifying force,� she asserted, adding that life and literature were synonyms.
�Literature emerges out of fearlessness and love�for a writer, writing is freedom from self to selflessness and hence a never-ending, never satisfying quest. The search is from a seen world to an unseen horizon which binds man, nature and universe � past, present and future,� she said.
Dwelling on the debate over the homogeneity of Indian literature, the scholar from Odisha said that any such debate is resolved in terms of a multifocal unity � by scholars and literary historians alike � by not steering clear of a controversy but by asserting a valid and viable truth that Indian literature is a semantic-thematic whole.
�Indian literature is one although written in different scripts. All bhasha literatures of India share a common history, an intertwining tradition of culture and almost identical problems and challenges giving rise to a common perception of reality, and almost a common man-nature-God complex of a worldview,� she said.
Asserting that having many languages was not India�s weakness but its strength, Dr Ray said that the multiplicity of languages and cultures made Indian literature beautiful and resourceful, strengthening the bond of literary kinship.
Dr Ray termed Tanti as a brilliant poet whose language epitomized the universality of humanity .
Tanti, in his acceptance speech, voiced concern at the growing disparity in society, leading the country into meaningless strife and discontent. �The need of the hour is to bridge the widening gap in order to prosper and progress and simultaneously on both sides,� he said.
Tanti said that every poet amidst the horror and chaos �creates a language that gives us the sensation of a living body � perhaps it is so complicated�it is necessary for the poet either to be intimidated or to traverse down the tumultuous times, all the way alone�it is rightly said that poetry is the explosion of language.�
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, in his address, said that Assam had a unique history in which people coming from outside assimilated and integrated with the local cultures and enriched its heritage in the process. �There is ample evidence of this in Assamese literature. Literature had a role in nation building and strengthening the bonds of amity and bonhomie,� he said.
Gogoi, while lauding the Williamson Magor group for initiating the award, said that the tea industry needed to do more for uplift of the tea labourers who had often been a deprived and neglected lot.
�The tea industry should open schools for the tea labourers� children, as access to education remains a big problem for the tea tribe communities. If it can open a school like the Assam Valley School for the elite section, it can do the same for the tea workers,� he said.