How correct is Barak valley being connoted as the cultural and political hub of the Bishnupriya Manipuri when Bishnupriya Manipuri people living in Tripura are way ahead in every respect to their counterparts in the Silchar region. It's a big question, an intriquing question.
By BN Sinha, New Delhi
Being a Silcharite and also a Bishnupriya Manipuri of Barak Valley, it is quite obvious to share the same thread with the fellow BMs of Tripura. From the very childhood days we were quite familiar with the names of the places like Kailasahar, Dharmanagar etc. With the same note every non-Tripurian Bishnupriya Manipuri certainly shares the same thread linked to Tripura.
We have also been seeing a sea of talents from Tripura as we see meritorious BM
Tripurian topping in various institutions of North East like Cotton College, National Institute of Technology [NIT] – Silchar, Gurucharan Charan [GC] College, Gauhati Medical Colloge [GMC], Sichar Medical College [SMC], and also in other universities. I personally witnessed many as I had few BM friends from Tripura who again happened to be stars in their respective fields.
There is always a belief in BMs of other parts of the country that Tripura BMs are more advanced and are always few steps ahead in every spheres of life: education, politics, beaurocracy, medicine etc.
Names like Bimal Sinha, Amar Sinha, Bonomali Sinha, Ashok Sinha are all synonymous with fame and success; interestingly all belonged to the Bishnupriya Manipuri community of Tripura.
It was Tripura which had produced first Bishnupriya Manipuri civil servant, IITians way back in sixties, especially when there were handful of graduates in the community as a whole.
Coming to the present scenario we can see many BM fellows of Tripura making their presence felt in top MNCs and many in PSUs like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd.[ONGC], Indian Oil Corporation [IOC] etc. Most of them are settled abroad and also there are many promising Bishnupriya Manipuri youth talents of Tripura in every cities and various varsities of India pursuing higher studies in Management, IT, Engineering etc.
Their success is highly commendable; the Bishnupriya community as a whole is proud of BMs of Tripura. To the contrast of BMs of Assam, they never had to face the political hostility and isolation rather they always enjoyed the geo-political advantage having a significant number of population percentage. We all know that the Bishnupriya Manipuri language was introduced in primary education in Tripura much earlier than it came into effect in Assam.
No doubt, BMs living in Barak valley and in other regions of the coubtry have contributed and marked success in their respective chosen fields but collectively speaking to the benchmark of population percentage their success ratio doesn’t come as per to the success stories written by BMs of Tripura.
Despite registering a stronghold in every spheres of life, are we witnessing a negligible contribution towards the community in order to enrich and consolidate its culture, literature, art, music etc…. from Tripurian BMs….???
Why Silchar is considered as the cultural and political hub of Bishnupriya Manipuri community when maximum number of bigwigs are there in Tripura? And where participation of Bishnupriya Manipuri people in politics, education and in government formation is an established fact where as it is still a utopian dream for Bishnupriya Manipuri people living in Assam. Making the whole story short - Why Cachar and Karimgunj witness as many Mahamels as compared to Tripura?
Is it an un answered question in my mind?…. or do I need to enlighten my knowledge and information????…I don’t know…..
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By BN Sinha, New Delhi
Being a Silcharite and also a Bishnupriya Manipuri of Barak Valley, it is quite obvious to share the same thread with the fellow BMs of Tripura. From the very childhood days we were quite familiar with the names of the places like Kailasahar, Dharmanagar etc. With the same note every non-Tripurian Bishnupriya Manipuri certainly shares the same thread linked to Tripura.
We have also been seeing a sea of talents from Tripura as we see meritorious BM
Tripurian topping in various institutions of North East like Cotton College, National Institute of Technology [NIT] – Silchar, Gurucharan Charan [GC] College, Gauhati Medical Colloge [GMC], Sichar Medical College [SMC], and also in other universities. I personally witnessed many as I had few BM friends from Tripura who again happened to be stars in their respective fields.There is always a belief in BMs of other parts of the country that Tripura BMs are more advanced and are always few steps ahead in every spheres of life: education, politics, beaurocracy, medicine etc.
Names like Bimal Sinha, Amar Sinha, Bonomali Sinha, Ashok Sinha are all synonymous with fame and success; interestingly all belonged to the Bishnupriya Manipuri community of Tripura.
It was Tripura which had produced first Bishnupriya Manipuri civil servant, IITians way back in sixties, especially when there were handful of graduates in the community as a whole.
Coming to the present scenario we can see many BM fellows of Tripura making their presence felt in top MNCs and many in PSUs like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd.[ONGC], Indian Oil Corporation [IOC] etc. Most of them are settled abroad and also there are many promising Bishnupriya Manipuri youth talents of Tripura in every cities and various varsities of India pursuing higher studies in Management, IT, Engineering etc.
Their success is highly commendable; the Bishnupriya community as a whole is proud of BMs of Tripura. To the contrast of BMs of Assam, they never had to face the political hostility and isolation rather they always enjoyed the geo-political advantage having a significant number of population percentage. We all know that the Bishnupriya Manipuri language was introduced in primary education in Tripura much earlier than it came into effect in Assam.
No doubt, BMs living in Barak valley and in other regions of the coubtry have contributed and marked success in their respective chosen fields but collectively speaking to the benchmark of population percentage their success ratio doesn’t come as per to the success stories written by BMs of Tripura.
Despite registering a stronghold in every spheres of life, are we witnessing a negligible contribution towards the community in order to enrich and consolidate its culture, literature, art, music etc…. from Tripurian BMs….???
Why Silchar is considered as the cultural and political hub of Bishnupriya Manipuri community when maximum number of bigwigs are there in Tripura? And where participation of Bishnupriya Manipuri people in politics, education and in government formation is an established fact where as it is still a utopian dream for Bishnupriya Manipuri people living in Assam. Making the whole story short - Why Cachar and Karimgunj witness as many Mahamels as compared to Tripura?
Is it an un answered question in my mind?…. or do I need to enlighten my knowledge and information????…I don’t know…..
You are regular visitor to this blog. Please subscribe, so that you do not miss any article.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi BN,
ReplyDeleteIts nice to know that you have done such good research to come to this
conclusion.
I would like to point out that the first ever "Mahamel" was initiated by Sri
Bimal sinha of TRIPURA in Pathargandi. Guess why... it was because he
knew that most of the BM community resided in the Barak valley.
Yes, the Tripura BM community has studied and made their mark.. why
blame them for being famous and knowledgeable. They had to be on top
so that they could create a stand. They paved their own way to be where
they are today. They should be aplauded and not been rediculed upon.
I have had four generation in my family, attending "Mahasobhas" in the
Barak valley, all of them famous in their own terms and fields. By the way, you forgot to put my Dad's name in there. Mr. Kajal Kanti Sinha. ( Retd. Additional Chief Engineer, Tripura Goverment.) His Name is in Text books for heading the Famous Dumboor Project. The First Hydrel Power Project in Tripura. Mr Bimal Sinha is my Mama, Dr Ashok Sinha is my youngest Uncle.
Only a request, Please dont split our already small Community into more parts. we already are broken into "dangoriyas and leirapas" which didnot exist before. Our BM community has always been examplary to this world which gave respect to " AGE" and not to place, post, position, or Educational Qualifications.
Please dont split us into states, villages or regions.
Let us be togather and not point the finger at each other. Lets point it at
ourselves and ask ourselves as to what have" WE" done to bring this
community up.
Suroshree
it was a great reading. my name in it made me proud, deserving or otherwise. never knew cachhar BMs were different from us. brajenda (brajendra kumar Sinha, Hailakandi)of 'hoponor babuani' is as dear to my heart as tagore. he is actually a self appointed ex-officio father-in -law to me, being a friend of my my original, father-in-law, principal PK sinha. we are all the same, aren't we! we had a better deal politically and that is why probably you could count so many names, leaving a lot of them out as it is. i can count a couple of hundreds of people from cachhar who have contributed to the nation suitably. there is truly no need to worry about cachhar BMs being left behind. NIKHIL BMs of the world are as proud of their Cachhari brethren as from tripura guwahati, delhi or bangaladesh. he also serves who waits and watches(?). BTW the first MAHAMEL was organised by Mr Tanu Singh Choudhury of Sylhet and Mr Kirti Singh of kailashahar. the last was by Bimal sinha of kamalpur. does it make any difference? it was organised in cachhar because cachhar had more enthusiastic and dedicated BM,s than any other place. and thats true.
ReplyDeletedr ashok sinha
@ Dr Ashok Sinha
ReplyDeleteFirst of all thanks a ton for visiting the blog sparing your precious time.Its a priviledge for the moderators and also to the bloggers to have comments of personalities of your stature.It definitely adds value to the whole purpose.
There was definitely no intention in the article to draw a line on the fraternity we all BM have but was just an ignorants midns eye that our literature and art could have been much richer....
Thanks for all ur inputs in comments.Your kind perticpation in the blog would be motivational for the writers as and readers as well.
@ Suroshree
Hey madam you got me wrong.
Every individual of the BM community as a whole is proud of all those eminent personalities so as I.Where is the point of blame and split... i have already mentioned we all r bonded with a common thread..it was just a thought that BM community could have been much richer with Art and Literature...
However as i ve mentioned "Need to Enlighten my knowledge"..it was an ignorant leirapa villager's point of view.Thanks for all those informations.
However your concern is admired.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHello Dhan Da,
ReplyDeletenice R&D, keep it up.
i feel really gud to read about our community gr8 people, festival and other related topics.
Gr8, gud job.
all the best, pls keep posting. Dhan Da, don't worry, " main hoon na " :).. sorry for kidding.
also pleasure to read rani didi, suroshri, and rishi article too.
Thanks and Regards,
Jyotirmoy