Chhattisgarh assembly pays tributes to Bismillah Khan

Raipur, Nov 20 (UNI) Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha today paid eloquent tributes to Shehnai maestro and Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan and former state assembly speaker Rajendra Prasad Shukla, recalling their contribution in their respective fields.

As soon as the house assembled for the winter session, speaker Prem Prakash Pandey made obituary references of Congress veteran Rajendra Prasad Shukla, former speaker of undivided Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha and later of Chhattisgarh assembly, and Shehnai mastero Ustad Bismillah Khan, who died during the inter session period.

Chief minister Dr Raman Singh recalled that Mr Shukla, who had served as speaker of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, had joined the 'Bhudan Andolan' at an young age. He was an active parliamentarian during his four decades of political life.

Paying rich tributes to Ustad Bismillah Khan, Mr Singh said the music maestro had took 'Shehnai' from marriage ceremonies to the national and international level, establishing it as a form of classical music.

Leader of the opposition Mahendra Karma and legislative affairs minister Ajay Chandrakar also paid tributes to them before the house observed two minutes silence and later adjourned for the day as a mark of respect towards the departed personalities.

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