Baripada: Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday said that he would pursue with the Union culture ministry for establishment of a Santhali research centre in Baripada to popularise and propagate the language.

Pradhan said this while addressing a public meeting at Hadhadi village on the outskirts of Baripada town on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Raghunath Murmu, who is credited with developing the Ol Chiki script for Santhali languge.

Besides, Pradhan promised that he would take initiative to rename Hadhadi as "Guru Gram" and upgrade the village's infrastructure to make it an international-standard tourist destination.

"Murmu is revered among the Santhals as a guru and he did a lot for the Santhals and their language and literature. So, the renaming of village would be a befitting tribute to him," Pradhan said.

"In Mayurbhanj, the tribal population is about 56 per cent and nearly 32 per cent of them belong to the Santhal community. They have a different identity with their unique language, literature and culture in the district. They consider Murmu as the most revered person. They respect him as their guru as he had taken a lot of pain to develop the Ol Chiki script for their language," said Kabi Bishnu Satpathy, a litterateur and resident of Mayurbhanj. "A research centre on the Santhali language would give a much-needed fillip to the ancient tribal language. The renaming of Hadhadi village will show proper respect to the guru (Raghunath Murmu)."