Participants at a symposium organised by the Bangla Sahitya Sanskriti Samaj on Sunday. Telegraph picture

July 22: The city has become the centre of a new awakening, giving Bengali literature a face that people from all communities and language groups can relate to.

Thanks to the relentless efforts of the city-based Bangla Sahitya Sanskriti Samaj, Guwahati, and Vicky Publishers, the initiative is on to make people realise that the theme and subject of Bengali literature is no more confined to Bengal, but also speaks of the many communities of the state.

“The awareness has been brought by translating Assamese books to Bengali and other languages and by conducting seminars and workshops with people from different communities and language-speaking groups,” Usharanjan Bhattacharya, president of Bangla Sahitya Sanskriti Samaj, Guwahati, told The Telegraph at a symposium here today.

The symposium was organised on Bengali short stories of the Northeast.

Since its inception in 2009, Bangla Sahitya Sanskriti Samaj, Guwahati, has provided a platform to work for the development of the Bengali language, as well as work for the harmony among different communities and language-speaking groups, through literature.

“Earlier, whenever people used to talk about Bengali literature they invariably thought about Calcutta. We are trying to change that perception. We have organised seminars and symposia and whenever possible taken up translation works so that people can relate to the state and its people through this language,” Bhattacharya said.

Bhattacharya said Assamese-speaking people buy 60 per cent of the Bengali books in the city.

Bengali books have always been popular in Assam, and till date they have maintained their popularity successfully among the Assamese.

“On an average, out of 10 Bangla books, six are bought by Assamese-speaking people, three by Bengalis and one by other communities,” Bhattacharya said.

“In 1919, Rabindranath Tagore visited Assam. At that time Bongiya Sahitya Parishad, a literary body, was active here. Tagore told them to work with different communities and language-speaking groups of Assam. We have been trying to respect his wish,” Bhattacharya said.

At present, Bengali books are published quite regularly in the city and Guwahati has three stalls only for Bengali books to cater to the readers.

Short story writer Devi Prasad Singha said, “The increasing number of publication of Bengali books indicates that the Brahmaputra valley has the presence of a significant readership and a market has been developed for Bengali books.”

Saumen Bharatiya from Vicky Publishers said their emphasis is to make all the famous books written in Assamese and languages of other communities in Assam, available in Bengali.

“Now 70 books are in print and a majority among them are translations from Assamese to Bengali,” he said.