Guwahati witnessed a massive traffic disruption on Thursday as hundreds of fans of the late singer Zubeen Garg staged a protest against the state government's decision to remove a mural of the singer from a flyover pillar near the state capital complex. The mural, which featured the slogan 'Comrades Never Die', had been drawn by graffiti artist Marshall Baruah after Zubeen's death.
Protest and Redrawing
PWD workers, who were tasked with repainting the flyover, fled the scene as the protest escalated, leaving the mural half-erased. Marshall Baruah later arrived and redrew the artwork, much to the delight of the gathered fans. The incident comes ahead of a planned visit by Japanese Prime Minister to Guwahati next month, prompting the PWD to undertake a beautification drive across the city.
Fan Outcry
Thousands of Zubeen supporters thronged the site, singing his popular song 'Mayabini' and raising slogans like 'Zubeen Garg remain immortal' and 'Justice for Zubeen'. While other murals of the singer remain untouched elsewhere in the city, a high-level PWD source claimed the erasure was a mistake. 'PWD was told to repaint the flyovers and workers probably didn't know and erased it by mistake,' the source said, adding that other murals would be preserved.
Garima's Reaction
Zubeen's wife, Garima, took a dig at the government's beautification initiative, questioning whether the city looked beautiful after the incident. Sharing pictures of the half-erased mural, she wrote on social media, 'Did Zubeen Garg's mural really make the city look so ugly? Or was it simply considered unnecessary from the very beginning? Perhaps after erasing it, Guwahati has now gained a certain kind of beauty, hasn't it?'
She added, 'But can the presence of the beloved soul be erased from the hearts of the people the way that picture was erased? It hurts, though there is no anger or resentment.' Garima further stated, 'You thought it through... and you acted. We are people who place greater faith in the presence of the soul and the feelings of the heart. You may call it pointless emotion, but to us, our faith is what is true and pure. He is eternal... rooted in our hearts, our souls, our emotions, and our conscience. He will remain there forever.'
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