Letters to the Editor: Renaming Roads

We often drive through a road which runs through the eastern bank of Dighalipukhuri connecting Gauhati High Court with Rabindra Bhawan. This road is known as Tayebullah Road.

A total misnomer in annals of Assam's history, we know him as the right hand of Sir Syed Saadulah who imported lakhs and lakhs of the then East Pakistanis to Assam in the guise of farmers who now have become a cancerous growth for the state and have created a Frankenstein like Badruddin Ajmal. In this very road lies the residence of Satya Nath Bora, who was and is known as Francis Bacon of Assamese literature. Through this, I beg to furnish some facts about that great icon of Assamese language/literature.

1) He was the first Asomiya to practice in courts and introduced Asomiya language as lingua franca in the law courts under the Britishers as at that time it was the Bengali language which was the official language of Assam. Though initially he was mocked by the lawyers from the Bengal who had overwhelming presence on the floor of the court but they all surrendered to his unflinching intent. Gradually his efforts yielded results as more and more lawyers from Assam started communicating in Assamese language inside the premises of the court.

2) He was the first lecturer in Department of Assamese in the then Cotton College in 1913 and subsequently took voluntary retirement as the head of the department in 1924. Cotton University in their calendar of 2020 had printed his photo and aptly honoured him as the founding father of Assamese studies.

3) He was the first Asomiya to become a lecturer of the erstwhile Earle Law College.

4) He composed number of books in Assamese grammar due to which Assamese language became a rich language.

We all have seen that our popular CM have changed the names of some roads and old monuments very rightly and I earnestly request our CM to change the name of the said road from Taibullah road to Satya Nath Bora Road as that road is the residence of doyen of Assamese literature. It shall be fitting tribute to the Satya Nath Bora. The very same can be applied to Lamb Road which can be renamed as Ugratara Road.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.