From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: “Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is one of the greatest patriots of the country, whose indomitable courage and supreme sacrifice for the sake of the country continues to motivate and inspire millions of Indians and elsewhere in the world,” said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on the occasion of the 116th Birth Anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose organised here in the city on Monday.
Paying eloquent tribute to Netaji, Chief Minister Gogoi said that the countrymen were now breathing in the air of freedom due to supreme sacrifices made by leaders like Netaji.
“We are indebted to leaders like Netaji who had freed us from the chains of slavery and gave us the air of freedom,” he said.
The Chief Minister said though Mahatma Gandhi and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose differed over the ways of attaining freedom, they nevertheless had one objective in mind and ‘that was attaining complete freedom from British raj’.
“Though Gandhiji believed in non-violent as the way to attaining freedom and Netaji through armed struggle, they had one avowed mission in life and that was to free the country from colonial rule,” Gogoi said
Gogoi hoped that the youth inspired and motivated by Netaji’s ideals would work towards making the State a vibrant and resilient one in the days ahead.
“Let us all uphold his ideals and work for translating his dreams into reality and that’s the greatest tribute we can pay to him,” he added.
The Chief Minister gave away the Netaji Smarak Garima Award for the year 2012 to noted poet and economist Prof. Amalendu Guha, eminent folklorist, Dr. Birendra Nath Dutta and well-known dramatist, Dr. Arun Sarma on the occasion.