GUWAHATI, Dec 14 - Asam Sahitya Sabha president Dr Dhrubajyoti Borah will meet former Sabha presidents Homen Borgohain, Dr Nagen Saikia, Dr Lakshmi Nandan Bora, Dr Birendranath Datta and Kanaksen Deka on December 20 in the wake of the controversy following the Sabha executive body�s decision to extend its term by another year even as the reception committee of the 74th Sivasagar Session of the Sabha has barred the Sabha�s principal secretary Dr Paramananda Rajbongshi from attending the Sabha to be held at the historic Jerenga Pathar during February 1-5.
�Dr Borah is deeply sad and worried over the controversy ahead of the Sabha�s centenary celebrations, and he solicits advice from the doyens of the State�s social life at this critical juncture. Therefore, he has convened a meeting with the former Sabha presidents at the Circuit House at 4 pm on December 20,� an official release from the Sabha said.
The release added that Dr Borah was convening the meeting with �utmost sincerity� and that the contentious issues would be �discussed in an open manner and the decisions following the meet would be implemented by the Sabha in the right earnest.�
Our Sivasagar Correspondent adds: In an unprecedented move, the reception committee of the 74th Sivasagar Session of Asam Sahitya Sabha has barred Dr Paramananda Rajbongshi from attending the Sabha.
In the emergent reception committee meeting held at Sivasagar today in the wake of the controversies in the media regarding the principal secretary�s alleged irregularities and appeal by a section of noted litterateurs to oust the principal secretary from the executive body, the reception committee adopted a resolution to that effect, with irate members of the sub-committees and public representatives demanding immediate action against Dr Rajbongshi.
Most of the speakers alleged that the secretary had tarnished the reputation of the Sabha, the only organisation loved by the people of the State cutting across all creeds and cultures.
The reception committee meeting, presided over by Sanaram Boruah, decided to go ahead with the ongoing preparations for the historic Sabha session in Sivasagar on its centenary year. The meeting unanimously decided to complete all preparations and celebrate the occasion in a befitting manner to showcase the strength, integrity and honour of the people of the district by holding the session without the principal secretary.
The meeting through the resolution urged the central committee to thrash out an alternative procedure to carry on the works on the eve of the biennial session with the assistant secretary till the legal complications against the principal secretary came to an end.
But the mood of the participants was totally against the principal secretary�s joining the session at any stage of the session and representatives of several organisations told the media that they would resort to steps like boycotting the Sabha session altogether if the central executive allows the �tainted� principal secretary to carry on the works of the Sabha.
The speakers were of the opinion that Asam Sahitya Sabha was an institution that evolved on the sacrifices of hundreds of literary luminaries as well as millions of common people and no one person could be above it.
The organisers of the session with a tentative budget of Rs 4.5 crore have faced acute financial constraints due to the demonetisation by the Central Government which was further aggravated by entanglement of the Sabha�s name with police cases following an employee�s suicide in its Jorhat office and the consequent grilling of Dr Rajbongshi by Jorhat police which proved to be highly damaging to the Sabha�s reputation.