Bihar govt to name new airport after iconic peasant leader — ‘only fitting tribute'

Indian Express

5 days ago

The Bihar government has announced that the upcoming international airport at Bihta near Patna would be named after social reformer and peasant leader Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, an nationalist icon whose efforts to mobilise farmers in Bihar is credited to have led to the abolition of the Zamindari system in India.
In a speech at the 75th death anniversary of Saraswati Thursday, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary — a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — said it was the only 'fitting tribute' to the ascetic, whose Shree Sitaram Ashram in Bihta still stands as a symbol of the peasant movements in 1920s and 30s that captured the popular imagination in Bihar.
The announcement comes on a day when the family of Saraswati's American biographer Walter Hauser scattered his ashes in the Ganga.
'We will send a proposal to the Centre to ensure it,' the deputy chief minister said.
Bihar Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, who also spoke on the occasion, said the state government was willing to help the ashram with digitisation. 'Bihar State Archives has already digitised some rare photographs of farmers' movement led by the Swami,' he said.
This comes on a day when the family of the late American historian Walter Hauser, a disciple and biographer of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, scattered his ashes in the Ganga Thursday morning keeping with his last wish. Hauser died in 2019.
To mark the occasion, two generations of the family – Hauser's son Michael, his sister Sheela, wife Elizabeth and niece Rosemary – have come down to India. Accompanying this group are two of Hauser's most prominent students, historians William R Pinch and Wendy Singer.
'It is the end of my father's physical journey but his legacies and eternal association with Bihar and Saraswati will remain forever,' his son Michael, a professor at the Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, said.
Meanwhile, Janata Dal (United) Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary also acknowledged the growing importance of deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary within the National Democratic Alliance at the event. A Kushwaha OBC leader, Choudhary, a former Bihar BJP chief who was tasked with delivering the 2025 Assembly polls for the party, has, over the years, become one of its strongest leaders in Bihar.
'Samrat Choudhary is number two in our government,' Vijay Kumar Choudhary said at the event.
Santosh Singh is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express since June 2008. He covers Bihar with main focus on politics, society and governance. Investigative and explanatory stories are also his forte. Singh has 25 years of experience in print journalism covering Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.
... Read More