Dispatch News.
The Department of Anthropology and Tribal Development of Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya (Central University) organised a one-day National Seminar on August 12, 2022, at 11 am under the joint aegis of Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts, New Delhi, on Partition Horrors Memorial Day for the celebration of 75 years of Independence. The program organised in the Silver Jubilee Auditorium started with lighting the lamp and offering flowers to the statues of Maa Saraswati and Baba Ghasidas. The members of the Tarang band gave performed Saraswati Vandana and Kulgeet. In the beginning, the college paid tributes to the martyrs of the partition. As welcome gifts, the guests on stage received small saplings. Dr Ghanshyam Dubey of the Department of History delivered the welcome address. Dr Neelkanth Panigrahi of the Department of Anthropology and Tribal Development explained the subject.
In his presidential address, the Honorable Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Alok Kumar Chakrawal, said that the perverted mentality and ambitions of some gave rise to the horror of the partition of India. The politics of a handful of people drew the lines of division and killed lakhs of people. Such people do not deserve to be called human beings in a civilised society. Humanity, values and culture can build a strong individual, society and nation.
Many families lost everything during the 1947 Partition, but they retained the values of culture and humanity that have kept all those heroic sacrifices in our memory. Wars rage in many parts of the world, but we must build a better society and nation and keep humanity at the forefront.
In the seminar, the Vice-Chancellor also recited a poem commemorating the Memorial Day of Partition Horrors – today, once again, I am reminded of a letter written with the blood of innocent people. Those who used to eat vows to protect the country, those very people have torn the chests of their loved ones. Some trees are broken, numerous are the broken houses, what a doom they all together have wreaked.
Dr Omji Upadhyay, Director (Research and Administration), ICHR, New Delhi, who joined through a virtual medium, said that we have to study and discuss to understand the tragic pain and horror of partition. We have to meet the people and family members of people of that era and understand their pain. He said that at the Amrit Mahotsaval of Independence, we should bow to those who sacrificed and suffered the pain of partition. The nation or society which does not take lessons from its history perishes.
Special guest Nagendra Vashistha, Intellectual Head, Central Zone, Jabalpur, joined a virtual medium and said that we should remember those who made the country safe. We should strive to make our country socially strong. We must maintain social harmony, mutual love, and brotherhood while learning from history’s mistakes.
Special guest Dr Abha Rupendra Pal, Retired Professor, Department of History, Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla University, Raipur, said that the real pain of partition was that those who killed others were none other than their people. Earlier, foreigners committed atrocities against Indians, but this tragedy was entirely their fault. She flipped through the pages of history, exposing the mistreatment of women and children during that time. Many poets and writers have written articles about the horrors of partition.
Santram Jethwani, a member of the family who had witnessed the horrors of partition, was honoured on stage. The Vice-Chancellor opened a photo exhibition depicting the horrors of partition. It contains pictures and messages of various incidents, displacement and tragedies during partition. At the end of the program, the Registrar, Suraj Kumar Meher, proposed a vote of thanks, and Sonia Sthapak conducted the event. On this occasion, the Deans, Heads of Departments, teachers and students of various schools participated.
