Guwahati: In a major achievement of showing its tributes to great Ahom warrior Lachit Barphukan, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma received the Guinness World Records’ Certificate for the ‘Largest Online Photo Album of Handwritten Notes’ on Bir Lachit Barphukan from its representative in the city on Thursday.
Mentionable is that to pay tributes to Bir Lachit on his 400th birth anniversary, the Assam government decided to observe it with year-long celebrations. Former President Ram Nath Kovind launched the year-long celebrations on 25 February 2022 in Guwahati and there after, as a part of it, CM Sarma launched a web portal/ App on 26 October enabling the students across the globe to upload their tributes in the form of handwritten notes. Altogether 45,34,818 entries were uploaded and finally 42,94,350 were taken for final assessment.
Guinness authorities accorded this coveted feat as the record holder for the largest online photo album of handwritten notes. The essays were written in 23 languages with Assamese being the top of the languages with 35,90,918 entries followed by English with 4,05,617 entries. Other languages include Bengali, Bodo, Hindi, Manipuri, Hmar, Karbi, Nepali, Santali, Sanskrit, Arabic, Dimasa, Persian, Urdu, Tai, Bishnupriya, Lamsakhang, Telugu, Tripura, Korean, Punjabi and Rabha.
Sarma termed it historic for Assam and its people as the State has made an emphatic entry into Guinness record for creating the largest online photo album of handwritten notes on Bir Lachit. He thanked the the participants, precisely the students, for their contribution and spontaneously participating in paying their odes to the great general.
The concerned celebrations turned into a national event in which the dignitaries like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman, Union law minister Kiren Rijuju, Union Ayush minister Sarbananda Sonowal with other dignitaries took part. Association of the constitutional posts like President and Prime Minister with the program enhanced the dignity and importance of the event, he added.
Sarma also revealed that the government had initiated actions for a memorial of the Alaboi battle and preservation of Bir Lachit’s Samadhikshetra along with his patriotic soldiers. The installation of 150 feet Lachit statue will be completed within a year, stated Sarma, adding that the Brahmaputra riverfront beautification project will have a memorial of the Saraighat battle. He also informed that the government was working to enlist Sattriya and Bagrumba dances in the Guinness records.
