The people of Sambalpur rejoiced the felicitation of Mitrabhanu Gauntia, the famous lyricist in Sambalpuri language and of the Rangabati song, with Padma Shri award.
While the singer of Rangabati Jitendra Haripal had been conferred Padma Shri award in 2017, the Government honoured the lyricist this year. “It is nothing but a respect to the language and its creator too,” said Golak Bihari Mishra and many others.
“Those who treated Sambalpuri language just to be a dialect can now feel its importance. It is a full fledged language having a long history and importance. It is also one among the sweet languages of the country and Padma award to Lyricist Mitrabhanu Gauntia has proved it again,” opined Yugal Kishore Mahakud, a social researcher cum a resident of Kuchinda.
“Mitrabhanu Gauntia is a real talent. Further he has brought glory for our language. We are really proud of him," said Bijay Kumar Mohanty, former Chairman of SDA cum the resident of Bhatpura in Kuchinda. Hundreds of other people including the MLA of Kuchinda Kishore Naik also congratulated Gauntia for the unique achievement.
“I am very happy since a man from a remote village of western Odisha has got this award from the president of India for literary creation. It is not an honour for any individual but for the entire region and its language,” said Gauntia, in his reaction after receiving the award. It needs a mention here that as part of respect to the lyricist, the State Government has changed the name of his village in Bamra block of Kuchinda sub division to ‘Rangabati Bilung’ from only Bilung.