Bihar may set up varsity in the name of Bismillah Khan

The Nitish Kumar regime in Bihar is mulling over the proposal to establish a university in the State in the name of Ustad Bismillah Khan as a tribute to the Shehnai maestro.

The proposal, in its embryonic stage, is to set up a varsity at Dumraon, a sub-division in Buxar district, where Bismillah Khan was born and spent 12 years of his childhood before shifting to Varanasi in UP.

Khan, who was conferred with Bharat Ratna, passed away in 2006. Since then, there has been a long-pending demand to establish a university, preferably an Art University, in his name.

“We have recently written to the district administration to provide us 10 acres of land at Dumraon for the proposed varsity. Once the formalities are completed, the process to establish a Performing Art University will start,” said Bihar’s Minister for Art and Culture, Pramod Kumar.

“Given the contribution of legendary Bismillah Khan in the field of music and his association with Bihar, it will be a fitting tribute to the Bharat Ratna to open a varsity in his name,” the Minister added.

Bismillah Khan’s family is elated over the news but says this should have been done much earlier. “Our ties with Dumraon is intact even today. The Bihar Government should have established a university soon after Khan Saheb passed away in August 2006. But nevertheless, better late than never,” said Nazim Khan, the youngest son of Shehnai maestro. Nazim, a noted table player, stays in Varanasi but keeps coming over to his ancestral place in Dumraon in Bihar.