Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: On September 22, Imaa Bishnupriya Manipuri (IBM), along with members of Greater Guwahati Bishnupriya Manipuri Community organizations, members of Imarthar Core and many other Bishnupriya Manipuri people of Guwahati, assembled in Khanapara ISBT and led a candle march through the city on GS Road to honour the loving memory of their heartthrob, Zubeen Garg.
Kaka, as he is known within the community, has a phenomenal presence in the Bishnupriya Manipuri community. His songs in the Bishnupriya Manipuri language, namely “Jibone Morone” and “Nirole Khani”, are immortalized in the minds of the people.
Zubeen Garg has supported many artistes and musicians from the community to make a place for themselves in the Assamese movie and music industry. He always had a soft corner for the people of this community because of his childhood upbringing in Karimganj, where he had many cherishable personal experiences with the people, which is evident in the reciprocation of love by the people. The procession led in Guwahati was also accompanied by artistes and filmmakers from the Bishnupriya Manipuri community who also work in the Assamese industry, namely Siddharth Sinha, Hrishi Sinha, Bapon Sinha, James Sinha and Kallol Kirity Singha, along with Bishnupriya Manipuri blogger and portal owner of IBM Pou, Ajoy Rajkumar Sinha.
After the mass exodus of the indigenous Bishnupriya Manipuri community from Manipur, along with other communities due to the Burmese aggression in the 18th century, the Bishnupriya Manipuri population spread across the Barak Valley of Assam, some parts of Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao, Tinsukia, etc., and the state of Tripura in India; and the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh (Sylhet, which was a part of undivided Assam) and Myanmar (Burma). At that time, during the political upheaval and socio-economic crisis of the community, the late Rabindranath Tagore visited the Bishnupriya Manipuri village of Sylhet Masimpur, where he came across the legendary Bishnupriya Manipuri dance guru Nileshwar Mukherjee and invited him to teach Manipuri dance at Shantiniketan. Thereafter, the cultural diaspora of the community got a huge boost, and many other exponents of the Manipuri dance started to appear from within the Bishnupriya Manipuri community, the most popular of whom are the late Guru Senarik Rajkumar and the late Hanjaba Guru Bipin Singh, born in Singari village near Silchar town.
But in the modern context, so far as modern music is concerned, it is Luitkantha Zubeen Garg who somehow assumed the role played by Rabindranath Tagore for the Bishnupriya Manipuri community. By such contribution, his name has become embedded in the community till eternity. His loss is irreparable, and he is irreplaceable.
In this hour of profound grief, the Bishnupriya Manipuri people of Silchar, Karimganj, Patharkandi and different parts of the state and beyond have all assembled unitedly to pay their tributes to the departed legend.
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