Guwahati: Traffic in Guwahati came to an abrupt halt for a few hours on Thursday as hundreds of Zubeen Garg fans protested against the state govt’s move to erase a mural of the singer, which had been drawn on the pillar of a flyover, near the state capital complex.Interestingly, Zubeen’s mural sported a slogan, ‘Comrades Never Die’.While PWD workers suspended their work and fled in wake of the protests, leaving a half-erased mural, graffiti artist Marshall Baruah, who had drawn it after Zubeen’s death, reached the spot sometime later and redrew it.With PM Modi set to host his Japanese counterpart in the the city next month for a summit, the PWD has initiated a beautification drive across various locations in Guwahati. Thursday’s incident, however, touched a raw nerve among thousands of Zubeen supporters as they thronged the site, singing ‘Mayabini’ and raising slogans “Zubeen Garg remain immortal” and “Justice for Zubeen.”While several other murals of the singer remain untouched across other locations in the city, a high-level PWD source said the workers might have erased the mural by mistake. “PWD was told to repaint the flyovers and accordingly, all the flyovers were taken up for painting. The workers probably didn’t know and erased it by mistake,” the source said.The source further said other murals, depicting the late singer across various flyovers in the city, which were done by PWD at the time of its inauguration, will be kept intact.Taking a dig at the govt’s beautification initiative, Zubeen’s wife, Garima, asked whether the city looked beautiful post the incident. Sharing the pictures of the half-erased mural, Garima wrote on her social media platform, “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 further 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.”“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,” Garima said.
