HAILAKANDI, May 26 - The 117th birth anniversary of �Bidrohi Kavi� Nazrul Islam was observed in Hailakandi district on Wednesday under the auspices of various organisations. The main programme was held at the Town Hall here under the aegis of Barak Upatyaka Banga Sahitya O Sanskriti Sanmilan.
The programme started with the garlanding of the portrait of the poet by guests, followed by a cultural procession with tableau. Students of various schools of Hailakandi, members of several socio-cultural organisations, artistes and prominent citizens attended the procession, which wended through the main thoroughfares of the town.
The procession was led by poet Ashutosh Das, Sushil Paul, Tapash Duttagupta, Ranjit Ghosh, Arindam Kar Purkayastha, Debadatta Chakraborty, Hilaluddin Laskar, Swagata Bhattacharjee, Sakir Hussain Laskar and Altaf Hussain Laskar among others.
Haranath Chakraborty, Bijoy Kumar Dhar, Mihir Chakraborty, Bhakta Singh, Reeta Chanda, Ashutosh Das, president of the Sanmilan, Nitish Bhattacharjee and others took part in a discussion on Nazrul�s literature held in the evening. It was conducted by Salil Purkayastha. All the speakers highlighted the life and literary contributions of Kavi Nazrul and urged the people to read his works. They lamented that the poet did not receive due acclaim during his lifetime.
A poets� meet was also held on the occasion in which a large number of poets read out self-composed poems. Those who attended the meet included Ashutosh Das, Haranath Chakraborty, Jashim Uddin Laskar, Jalal Uddin Laskar, Bhakta Singh, Sipra Mohanta, Purnima Dey, Anamika Sarma, Manik Chakraborty and Rana Chakraborty among others. A cultural programme was also held in the evening. Local artistes performed Nazrul Geet, dance, etc. Bijoyini Bhattacharjee and Biswajyoti Bhattacharjee read out the poems of Nazrul Islam in the programme.
Various programmes were also organised at Katlicherra on Nazrul Jayanti. The portrait of the poet on the premises of Nazrul Bhavan was garlanded by the principal of SK Roy College, Dipak Kanti Aich, and others. A cultural programme was also held to mark the occasion.
