By Amjad Badshah
The century old glorious secular tradition of Remanda Ratha yatra.
Remanda village is situated about forty kilometres away from the district headquarter 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 instill 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.
Besides local, national media adores the century old rath yatra which has been continuing since 1900AD. Daily English paper Telegraph reportage writes “Harmony in one sweep”
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!!
The story was sourced from the official site of Odisha Tourism
