Bharat Ratna Dr Bhupen Hazarika was born at Sadiya in the easternmost tip of Assam on September 8, 1926 and passed away in Mumbai on November 5, 2011
The Assam Government will celebrate the birth centenary of Bharat Ratna Dr Bhupen Hazarika in a grand manner with a year-long celebration being planned beginning September 8 this year, Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Saturday.
The Assam cabinet which met at Dispur yesterday (April 12) passed a resolution to celebrate Dr Bhupen Hazarika’s birth centenary celebrations in a befitting manner with the inaugural function on September 8, 2025, to be held either in Guwahati or Delhi and will be attended by President Droupadi Murmu or Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the chief guest. The concluding ceremony will be held on September 8, 2026, and will be a grand affair which will also be held either in Guwahati or Delhi and will be either by President Murmu or by Prime Minister Modi as chief guest.
The Assam Government will form a 50-member committee under the chairmanship of the Assam Chief Minister to oversee the centenary celebrations of the “Bard of the Brahmaputra” as Dr Bhupen Hazarika was fondly addressed to by his fans and followers.
The committee will also include the chief ministers of all the eight Northeastern States as patrons, Chief Minister Dr Sarma announced while briefing media persons about the decisions taken in the cabinet meeting at Lok Sewa Bhavan in Dispur.
Three special events will also be held as part of the year-long centenary celebrations — one in Arunachal Pradesh where Dr Hazarika spent his early childhood, the second in Kolkata where he lived and composed a lot of his musical compositions and the third in Mumbai where he lived till his demise on November 5, 2011.
The government, Chief Minister Dr Sarma further announced, will also dedicate an institution of repute or a mega infrastructure project in Dr Bhupen Hazarika’s name besides also bringing out a biographical account which will be edited by eminent litterateur and journalist Dr Anuradha Sharma Pujari as part of the centenary celebrations.
The government will print 10 lakh copies of the biography and distribute the same among eminent citizens while it will also be included in the customary new year gift sent to distinguished personalities and other people from the Chief Minister of Assam.
The government will also request the central government to bring out a special commemorative coin to honour the Bard of the Brahmaputra during the year-long centenary celebrations, Chief Minister Dr Sarma concluded.
WATCH CHIEF MINISTER DR HIMANTA BISWA SARMA’S ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING THE GRAND BIRTH CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS OF BHARAT RATNA DR BHUPEN HAZARIKA
Meanwhile, after Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma’s announcement about the grand centenary celebrations of Dr Bhupen Hazarika, people of Assam have welcomed the move taken by the government saying nothing can be more fitting a gesture than celebrating the life and times of the evergreen balladeer who stands out as one of the greatest cultural icons not only from Assam but from the entire Northeast and beyond.
