Four weeks to centenary session, Asam Sahitya Sabha hit by controversies
With just four weeks in between for its historic centenary year session, Asam Sahitya Sabha – the oldest and largest socio-literary body-has been undergoing a massive turmoil, with controversies forcing its president to quit. While three former presidents of the Sabha-Kanaksen Deka, Lakshminandan Bora and Nagen Saikia-have been demanding removal of its general secretary Paramananda Rajbangshi after accusing him of acting in an autocratic manner, the reception committee of the Sivasagar centenary session has even threatened not to let Rajbangshi step into that town.
But even as holding of the centenary session (slated for February 2-5) had become an uncertainty because several branches of the Sabha too demanded Rajbangshi’s ouster, it was instead its president Dhruba Jyoti Borah who put in his papers expressing his helplessness to run the century-old organisation because of Rajbangshi’s style of functioning.
“I asked him to quit as many as five times in view of so many controversies and growing public opinion against him. But he refused to heed to my suggestions. This has instead prompted me to resign in view of the situation. After all, we cannot ignore public opinion. Doing so would amount to being autocratic,” Borah, a veteran author with several awards including the Sahitya Akademi, said.
General secretary Rajbangshi, who has chosen to cling to his post, however has denied the charges and instead accused president Borah of running away from shouldering his responsibilities. “Majority of the Sabha’s executive committee members have asked me not to resign. The allegations against me are not true,” Rajbangshi has claimed. He also asked Borah to withdraw his resignation by Tuesday, failing which he has also threatened to install vice-president Parag Thakur in the post.
Meanwhile, a group of leading intellectuals and writers have asked all former presidents of the Sabha to come forward to salvage the century-old institution in this hour of crisis. “All the past presidents of the Sabha should come together to shoulder the responsibility of salvaging it from this crisis that has emerged just before the centenary session,” former president Lakshminandan Bora said. Formed in 1917 with the objectives of development of Assamese language, literature and culture, the Asam Sahitya Sabha has about 1000 branches with over two lakh members. Almost all leading Assamese writers from Padmanath Gohain-Barua and Lakshminath Bezbaroa to Bhupen Hazarika and Rongbong Terang had adorned the Sabha president’s chair in the past 99 years.
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