President Pranab Mukherjee today fondly recalled his long association with the Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan, whose first annual conference was presided by Rabindranath Tagore.
"Founded in 1922, it was initially 'Probasi Banga Sahitya Sammelan' and Rabindranath Tagore presided its first annual conference in Varanasi in 1923," Mukherjee said here.
Addressing its 88th annual conference, the President recalled his association with the literary body for about three decades.
Mukherjee, who was its president for 12 times, said novels were introduced in Bengali literature in the mid 19th century.
Describing Michael Madhusudan Dutt as a pioneer of sorts, Mukherjee said Dutt had introduced blank verse (Amitrakshar Chhanda), epics and sonnets in Bengali language and his first epic 'Tilottama Sambhab Kabya', published in 1860, was the first Bengali poem written in blank verse.
The following year Dutt's greatest work---Meghnad Badh Kabya---was published, he said.
The 19th century Bengal produced other notable Bengali litterateurs like Biharilal Chakraborty, Romesh Chunder Dutt and Mir Mosharraf Hossain.
Mukherjee recalled the contributions of Kazi Nazrul Islam whose works transcended sectarian boundaries and also said that Sarat Chandra Chattapadhyay was yet another stalwart.
The President is on a two-day visit to Jharkhand.
Yesterday, he had attended the Convocation of Vinoba Bhave University in Hazaribagh.
(Reopens DEL 1)
Earlier, the President reviewed the impressive parade commanded by Academy Under Officer Varun Singh Chauhan.
Notably, this was the third time in the 53-year-old history of Officers Training Academy in Chennai that the Supreme Commander of Indian Armed Forces was reviewing the parade.
A total of 269 Officer Cadets, including 217 Gentleman cadets and 32 Lady cadets, 19 Gentleman cadets and one lady cadet from the friendly nations including Afghanistan, Bhutan, Lesotho and Fiji were commissioned as officers following completion of a vigorous training course at the OTA.
Mukherjee gave away the coveted "Sword of Honour" for the best all-round gentlemen/Lady Cadet of the passing out course to AUO Varun Singh Chauhan.
The gold medal for standing first in Order of Merit was awarded to Battalion Under Officer Alla Shridhar. The silver medal was awarded to Academy Cadet Adjutant Divya Tyagi and the bronze medal was awarded to BUO Rakesh TR.
The banner for Champion Company was awarded to Mektila Company.
The Officer Cadets were piped as officers by their parents and the event was followed by an oath taking ceremony and the National Anthem.
The President briefly interacted with the cadets and their parents after the ceremony.
