SPEECH OF HON’BLE GOVERNOR PUNJAB AND ADMINISTRATOR, UT CHANDIGARH, SHRI BANWARILAL PUROHIT ON THE OCCASION OF GOLDEN JUBILEE OF BANGLA SAMAJ AT CHANDIGARH ON JULY 31, 2022

Good Evening!

It is a pleasure for me to be amongst you all on the occasion of Golden Jubilee of Bangiya Sanskritik Sammilani. It is indeed a matter of great pride that this organisation has successfully completed 50 glorious year of its existence and I thank you all for giving me a opportunity to be a part of the celebrations.

Friends,

Chandigarh City offers a vibrant, cosmopolitan culture where everyday people from diverse walks of life engage and mingle with each other.

This invariably creates a culture milieu of free flowing and laid back attitude that exude warmth and a unique sense of harmony.

Chandigarh is indeed a mini India where people from different states live in harmony, and a true showcase of India vision of Unity in diversity. All the communities have contributed immensely to the progress of this City beautiful including the Bengali community.

I gather, the Bengali community is mostly concentrated in Sector 31 and 47 of the City. The area is to Chandigarh what CR Park is to Delhi. No wonder then that one gets a variety of fish in Sector 47, especially in the evening! Though I am a vegetarian, this is what I have learnt from the City foodies.

You bring along with you rich culture of Bengal , which is know worldwide. Bengali language is one of the sweetest languages. Bengal has produced great sons and daughters in all the fields.

Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Aurobindo, Maa Sharda, Ma Anandamayi, Swami Vivekananda, Sree Sree Thakur Anukulchandra made Bengal supernatural with asceticism, service and spirituality.

The great men like Gurudev Shri Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sharad Chandra have infused the virtuous land with the spirit of patriotism.

Jagadish Chandra Bose, P C Ray, S N Bose and Meghnad Saha and countless scientists have irrigated it with knowledge and science.

Nobel laureats like Mother Terasa, Amartya Sen and Abhijit Baneerjee, the list is long .

Above all, it is the land of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Netaji’s name always permeates a new energy in me. Such a towering personality that words fall short to describe him! He had such a deep foresight that one has to take several births to comprehend it. He had so much morale and courage even in a formidable situation, that the world's greatest challenge also could not deter him.

You should all be proud to belong to this land.

My association with Bengali culture is very old as I was the number two in the Biswa Bangla organisation in Nagpur my home city. Hence, it was just irresistible when the office bearer of your organisation approached me to be in your midst today. I have noted with great pleasure your journey of last 50 years and your effort in the field of culture, sports & charity.

The Banga Bhawan here stands as a testimonial to your effort in building a close knit society and I am sure that in future also you will continue to contribute and your organisation will go from strength to strength. We from the administration will always try to help you in this direction.

I understand that you propose to build an Golden Jubilee Multi Purpose Hall to serve the need of a permanent hall in your premises. I am sure you will utilise this money in building a beautiful hall.

Before I conclude, I wish to say that seeing the Bengali community at home in the City Beautiful reinforces faith in the country’s diversity, ability for tolerance and pluralism . After all, love of one’s own place and culture does not prevent one from appreciating those of others.

Once the great Tamil writer Indira Parthasarthy was asked how it was possible to be a Tamil Writer based in Delhi as – “a plant can grow only in its own soil”.

He replied and I quote “All are my regions, everyone is my kin”.(unquote)

So, it’s time to salute to our Country’s multi-culturalism . It gives immense pleasure to be with you on the occasion of Golden Jubilee of Bangiya Sanskritik Sammilani.

I extend my warm greetings, felicitations and best wishes to all of you who are assembled here for the function.

Once again I wish you all the best in all your endeavours and my best wishes and blessings are always with you all.

Thank you,

Jai Hind.