GOALPARA, Aug 7 � At a time when various organisations are clamouring for creation of separate States, a workshop was held at Dudhnoi Sishu Vidyapeeth on Sunday in which 42 students from Dudhnoi College, Bikali College and Damra Don Bosco HS School jointly rendered O Mur Apunar Desh in Assamese, Rabha, Garo, Hajong and Koch-Rajbongshi languages, underscoring the importance of the age-old values of peace and harmony among many communities and ethnic groups living together in the State.
Inaugurating the workshop, Preetom Saikia, Deputy Commissioner, said that O Mur Apunar Desh is one of the finest poems created by Lakshminath Bezbaroa to which music was set by Kamala Prasad Agarwala. It was formally adopted as the State anthem of Assam at the Assam Satra Sanmilan held at Tezpur in 1927.
Lauding the efforts of students and organiser Mukul Rabha, Cultural Officer, Dudhnoi, Saikia said that this song is not an Assamese song but a song of Assam and has been translated into other languages and dialects of the North-east which can be embraced by any community or ethnic group of the State to forge unity and brotherhood irrespective of cultural background and religious and political affiliations.
Dr Molin Rabha, principal, Bikali College, Dhupdhara, told this correspondent that the workshop is a rehearsal in the run-up to the celebration of Lakshminath Bezbaroa�s 150th birthday. Preparations are on to jointly perform the song in Assamese, Rabha, Garo, Hajong and Koch-Rajbongshi languages at the closing ceremony of the birth anniversary of the great litterateur at Nehru Bali, Nagaon on November 16.