Chief minister Nitish Kumar enters Assembly on Wednesday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, March 21: Chief minister Nitish Kumar today exhorted people to celebrate the 100th year of the state’s inception with gusto.

Releasing the CDs of the state anthem and the prayer song on the eve of the centenary celebrations, Nitish said: “Bihar is the soul of what India embodies. It has been the karmabhoomi (workplace) of Chanakya, Chandragupta, Ashoka, Gautam Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi, who are integral to India’s annals,” Nitish said.

“We must celebrate our glorious past and gear up to revive it,” he said.

Meray Bharat ke karnadhar and Meri rafter pe suraj ki kiran naaz kare — the starting lines of the state anthem and the prayer song, respectively, connote that Bihar represents the soul of India and the Biharis pray for the sun’s rays to covet the speed of their success and rise.

Nitish heartily congratulated poet Satya Narayan and a Muzaffarpur-based teacher, M.R. Chishti, for writing the state anthem and the prayer song, respectively. He announced to honour them at the main Bihar Divas celebration at Gandhi Maidan tomorrow.

The chief minister reiterated that Bihar’s history was India’s history.

“We have many identities — caste identity, religious identity, national identity… It is high time that we have Bihari as one of our identities. We should feel proud of belonging to Bihar rather than being ashamed of,” he said.

He directed the officials concerned to play the state anthem on all the streets and the prayer song in all the schools across the state.

“The anthem and prayer song will go a long way in inculcating a sense of pride for the state among the people,” Nitish said.

Ironically, Nitish launched the campaign to adopt the state anthem and the prayer song — overwhelmed with the bards’ rich imagination, nicely chosen words and sung in mellifluous music — at a low-key function. It looked like a typical government event — drab, dull and boring. There was pin drop silence when Nitish released the CDs, with the officials, some academics and legislators sitting quietly in meticulously arranged chairs.

The political cadres and people, who have the usual tendency to break into celebrations, were conspicuous by their absence. The representation of the ruling JD(U) and the BJP at the Samvad Bhavan function looked quite disproportionate.

The BJP stalwarts, including deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, NDA convener and road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav and the state BJP president, C.P. Thakur, did not show up. Only three BJP ministers — Sukhda Pandey, Sunil Kumar ‘Pintu’ and Satyadeo Narayan Arya — against seven JD(U) ministers and the state JD(U) chief, Basishtha Narayan Singh, attended the function.

A section of the BJP leaders said the bitterness between the two ruling allies over sharing the Rajya Sabha seats was still persisting.

Holiday

On account of Bihar Divas, all government offices, district courts and educational institutions will remain closed on Thursday. March 22 has been declared as government holiday.