Narendra Modi on Bhupen Hazarika

Abhijit Guha

"A Tribute to Bhupenda” an article published in The Statesman on 07/09/2025 (p.7) on the occasion of the singer’s birth centenary celebrations, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is informative but lacked a lot of important facts in the life of the great folk singer of India who hailed from Assam.

In the tribute the Prime Minister mentioned that Hazarika never became a “career politician” although he was elected an independent MLA from a constituency in Assam in 1967 and served as an MLA (Independent) during 1967-72. True. But it was not also true that BhupenHazarika had no political ideology. While in the US, Hazarika was deeply influenced by American folk music as a tool of protest and resistance. What Prime Minister Modi particularly did not mention was that BhupenHazarika (1926-2011) was also an activist in the cultural front of the then Communist Party of India at Calcutta. Hazarika was closely associated with the leftist Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) soon after returning from the US in 1953 and became the Secretary of the Reception Committee of the Third All Assam Conference of IPTA, held in Guwahati in 1955 (https://indianculture.gov.in/stories/bard-brahmaputra-drbhupen-hazarika).

Much later BhupenHazarika in an interview with rediff told:

‘I used to do many road shows before–one man shows from village to village. That’s how I became BhupenHazarika. During those shows I have met many angry young men who have said to me, “Dada ganachod do aur gun le lo,” (Leave your song and pick up the gun). I told them that my gaan (song) is my gun. At this age I could not go to the jungles to show that I loved my country. I can’t prove that I love Assam by only getting angry’. (https://m.rediff.com/news/aug/06asom.htm).

Hazarika’s association with politics did not end there. He contested as a BharatiyaJanata Party candidate in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from the Guwahati constituency, which he lost to the Indian National Congress candidate Kirip Chaliha. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhupen_Hazarika).

The aforementioned omissions in the article of Indian Prime Minister are noteworthy. Hazarika’s lyrics promoted themes of communal harmony, optimism, justice, a message of protest, revolutionary zeal and empathy amongst people. In the Government of India portal the article entitled Bard of Brahmaputra - Dr BhupenHazarika it is clearly mentioned: “His lyrics promoted themes of communal harmony, optimism, justice, a message of protest, revolutionary zeal and empathy amongst people”. Hazarika joined the famous Festival of Political Songs organised by the Socialist Unity Party of the communist East Germany during 13-19 February 1972 and a photo of the singer with HermutKonig, a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany can be seen in the GOI portal. (https://indianculture.gov.in/stories/bard-brahmaputra-dr-bhupen-hazarika).

Before joining the right wing BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) Hazarika first met the then Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee and then the Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and Union Health Minister SushmaSwaraj. After coming out of the meeting, he said, “I was totally convinced that for the first time in this country’s history, the BJP, along with its allies, have emerged as a political force that is leading this country in the right direction” according to a Times of India report published on 3 March 2004.

(https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections2004-news/bjp-on-right-path-says hazarika/articleshow/535416.cms).

He had joined the BJP ahead of 2004 Lok Sabha elections impressed by the performance of Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

So, BhupenHazarika from the beginning to the end of his career was very much involved in political ideologies, first leftist and then rightist and that is the essence of the biography of this great singer.

[The author can be contacted at: aguhavu@gmail.com]

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Vol 58, No. 19, Nov 2 - 8, 2025