NAGAON: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday inaugurated the redeveloped Batadrava Than, the birthplace of Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankardeva, in Assam’s Nagaon district.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union ministers Sarbananda Sonowal and Pabitra Margherita, and state Cultural Affairs Minister Bimal Bora, were present during the inauguration of the project.
“My visit to Nagaon holds great importance to me. Srimanta Sankardeva, along with spreading the teachings of Neo-Vaishnavite culture, preached his ideology of love and compassion across Assam and the Northeast from this revered land,” Shah said.
He also paid his respects to the country’s Bharat Ratna awardee Gopinath Bordoloi and said: “Assam and the Northeast are a part of India because of his effort to convince the first Prime Minister of our country to include Assam within the boundaries of India.”
“An ‘Aavirbhav Kshetra’ in the name of Srimanta Sankardeva has been developed at Batadrava Than. The complete makeover work, which was done in three phases, is already over at an expenditure of over Rs 222 crore in an area spanning 162 bighas,” he said, adding that the Neo-Vaishnavite practices have been meticulously developed based on detailed research work regarding religious symbols and objects present in the Shrimad Bhagavat.