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Journalism of Courage
Hem Barua was a man of many parts. A poet,an orator and MP,he straddled the world of politics,literature and education. A towering figure who did Assam proud. On Tuesday,Rajya Sabha MP Kumar Deepak Das recalled how former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru gave Barua a patient ear despite the fact that he was an Opposition leader and even invited him over for breakfast.In his book The Fearless Democrat: Hem Barua,a compilation of about 40 speeches by the late Assam leader who was a member of the Second,Third and Fourth Lok Sabha and represented Guwahati and Mangaldai constituencies,Das said he selected speeches still relevant to the state like price rise,education,Maoism and insurgency.The book was released at the office of The Indian Express by former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta.Speaking on the occasion,Das said it took him a year to compile the speeches and debates from records in the Parliament Library and the District Library in Guwahati. For hours,he would go through the debates,looking for the ones that would apply to the current situation in Assam. It was time,he said,to introduce the leader and the poet to a larger audience. Hem Barua is known to a lot of Assamese people. He is a role model and I thought about rediscovering Hem Barua. He is relevant, Das said.Echoing the sentiment,Mahanta said Barua was an active speaker in the House and raised many pertinent issues.Gupta said energetic and constructive debates were a rarity in Parliament these days. He referred to the just-concluded winter session which was completely washed out because of daily adjournments.
