Lakhinandan Bora (centre) releases the books at the Assembly on Monday. Picture by UB Photos

Oct. 8: He is one politician who finds time every day to jot down his thoughts despite holding an important portfolio in the Assam cabinet.

This morning, he released four more of his books.

Agriculture and parliamentary affairs minister Nilamani Sen Deka does his bit to enrich Assamese literature every day despite his hectic schedule.

His friends said before becoming a minister, he used to pass most of his time leafing through old documents and books at the archive of the Assam Assembly. And it was then that the representative of the Dharampur constituency stumbled upon graphic details of the Hukong Valley of Burma captured by one Englishman in his diary. He edited and reproduced the diary as a book, A Journey of an Unknown Englishman to Hukong Valley of Burma, which was one among his four books released at the Assam Assembly this morning.

Manuhor Maje Maje (third part), Kalokram (third part) and Dahan were the three other books released today, taking the number of Deka’s published books to 18. Three of his earlier books highlighted some aspects of the history of Assam Assembly.

“Before becoming a minister, I wrote more than 500 articles, among other things, during the five years before the Assembly elections. Some of them have been released as books today. Besides, writer Lakhinandan Bora sir had asked me to write short stories based on the lives of people I meet in my day-to-day life. I have tried to do so and Dahan is the outcome,” Deka said.

Deka believes in the mantra if there is a will there is a way. So, amidst his busy schedule, he manages some time every day to write.

“I wonder how he can do it. Once he asked me to write a book based on my travel experiences in different countries. I attempted but failed, as I could not manage the time. Deka is passionate about writing and has the patience to do it,” said Tanka Bahadur Rai, the state’s planning and development minister.

Releasing two of the four books, Sahitya Akademi award winning writer Lakhinandan Bora said politicians with interest in study and research was rare these days and Deka was an exception. “The characters in Deka’s short stories are the most neglected people of Assam’s rural areas. This is an exception in contemporary Assamese short stories,” Bora said.

He said research-based books and literature rich with the experience of field studies were rare in Assamese literature. “Writers like Rita Choudhury, who have attempted to create literature based on field studies have received warm welcome from the readers.”

Senior journalist Hyder Hussain released the other two books.