GUWAHATI, Aug 21 - Urging the Assam Government to acquire the historic 121-year-old Asam Sahitya Sabha Bhawan (building) in Kohima and preserve it as a heritage structure, Asam Sahitya Sabha has said that such an endeavour would go a long way in enriching the State�s national life and enhancing Naga-Assamese solidarity.
A delegation of Asam Sahitya Sabha led by its president Dr Dhrubajyoti Borah recently visited Nagaland and interacted with local people for facilitating restoration and preservation of the heritage house by the Assam Government.
Not many people would know that more than two decades before the birth of Asam Sahitya Sabha, a precursor to the State�s apex literary and socio-cultural body was formed in Nagaland at the initiative of the pioneering Assamese nationalist, Padmanath Gohain Baruah, in 1895. Gohain Baruah, incidentally, was also the first president of Asam Sahitya Sabha at its Sivasagar session in 1917.
A move has been afoot for the past several years to preserve the Kohima Sahitya Sabha building at the Nagaland capital � popularly known as Lal Ghar � as a heritage structure and an embodiment of Naga-Assamese solidarity. It is also to be developed as a facilitating platform for enhanced literary and cultural interaction between the people of the two neighbouring States.
Preserving the Kohima Sahitya Sabha Bhawan as a heritage structure would also be a fitting tribute to Padmanath Gohain Baruah, a doyen of Assamese literature and Assamese nationalism.
�We have urged the Assam Government to develop the Lal Ghar as an Assam Bhawan and a cultural centre � and some space for Asam Sahitya Sabha. The old Kohima Sahitya Sabha Bhawan is dear to our hearts and can well be a much-needed symbol of harmony and camaraderie for the Assamese and the Nagas at a time when a little friction was palpable in the relations between the two due to the working of vested interest circles,� Asam Sahitya Sabha president Dr Dhrubajyoti Borah told The Assam Tribune.
Dr Borah added that the Sabha had a plan to promote the Kohima Sahitya Sabha Bhawan as a centre for facilitating greater cultural and literary interaction between the two States.
�The people of Assam and Nagaland share a long history of bonhomie and goodwill dating back to centuries. The need is to build further on it, and Kohima Sahitya Sabha � a reminder of the age-old Naga-Assamese ties � can be the ideal platform to achieve that,� he said.
A Sahitya Sabha delegation also called on Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, seeking the State Government�s early action in assuming responsibility of the heritage house. It would also a befitting accomplishment ahead of the Sahitya Sabha�s forthcoming centenary celebrations, it said.