A Festival of Humanity

Jun
2019
26
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The century old glorious secular tradition of Remanda Ratha yatra.

Remanda village is situated about forty kilometres away from the district head quarter of Jharsuguda. Here, the Rath yatra was started in 1900 AD mainly sponsored by the then Muslim Gountia Waras Mohammad.His son Waliul Mohammed’s grandsons Mohammad Hanif and Habib and great grandson Mohammad Khalil had has sponsored the yatra. Presently Gountia Mohammed Jamiullah,also an eminent Odia Poet and writer ,has been managing the yatra and performing Chhera Pahanra with proper devotion for which he is nationally acclaimed as the symbol of communal harmony and national Integrity.Although initially he was opposed socially and politically, he has retained the glorious tradition since 1983 after the death of his illustrious father Mohammad Khalil.When asked about this, he frankly admits that it has nothing to do with religious orthodoxy and it is his Rajdharma and thanks the local Muslim and Hindu brethren for their hearty cooperation and goodwill.

As a literature Jamiullah has been awarded by many state level institutions including Sarala Samman , Sambalpur University ,Odisha Sahitya Academy, Odisha Sanskrutika Samaj of Sambalpur, Utkala Sahitya Samaj of Cuttak etc.His critically acclaimed works are "Jathartha O Kalpana" (1968), "Poets' Manifesto" (1986),"Swara Abinaswara" and "Nisiddha Pustak"(2005). His upcoming books are "Drustrira Draghima" (Odia Poetry Collection), Dayarno ke Darmiyan (Hindi writings) and "Autumn's Hymns" in English.

To propagate the message of national Integrity and communal harmony an organisation named "Samhati Manch" has been founded under the patronage of Gountia Jamiullah. His second son Amjad Badshah,who is a journalist, a Google News trainer on how to debunk fake news and working as Assistant Professor in Journalism department in Amity University Chhattisgarh, having been inspired by the secular roots of the family, has been campaigning on digital media on communal harmony and national integrity with a hashtag #LocatePromoteHarmony aiming to bring attention of the different state governments and central government on the various ongoing practices of communal harmony for years ; thereby appealing for governmental patronisation for creating positive vibes for younger generations to help them become volunteer on communal harmony.Apart from this Amjad, conducts seminars to brainstorm and painting competitions among students to instil in them communal harmony. His 15 minute English documentary film on Remanda Ratha yatra titled "Sweeping for Integrity" is a moral booster for every secularist minds in the country.

The youtube link of the documentary film is

https://youtu.be/hMzaPHL3P2c

Besides local, national media adores the the century old rath yatra which has been continuining since 1900AD. Daily English paper Telegraph reportage writes "Harmony in one sweep"

https://m.telegraphindia.com/states/odisha/harmony-in-one-sweep/cid/1506800#.V4dAp6BX5nE

In the words of Poet Gountia Mohammad Jamiullah,

From atop the blue hill

how nearest seem the holy minarets

of the Mecca muazzama

and Medina munawara

seeing your blue and infinite oceanic eyes

it seems as if you have

stretched your arms

to take in embrace

the whole of the universe!!




26 Jun 2019
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By Amjad Badshah

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