ITANAGAR, Jan 15: A condolence meeting was held at Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) on Monday to pay respects to the memory of Prof Pura Tado, who passed away on 14 January at his native village Hija in Lower Subansiri district.
The condolence meeting was attended by the university’s vice chancellor, registrar, deans of faculties, directors, heads of the departments, students and others.
They observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect to the departed soul.
The registrar and the vice chancellor remembered Prof Tado as an eminent teacher who rendered valuable service to the university in various capacities.
the state unit of the BJP, led by its president Tapir Gao and General Secretary Jarpum Gamlin on Monday paid floral tributes to the departed soul of the unit’s founding member, Prof Pura Tado, who passed away on Saturday.
Gao credited Prof Tado for his monumental contribution in sowing the seed of the party in Arunachal Pradesh.
“Prof Tado had contested as a BJP candidate in 1988 from Itanagar legislative assembly constituency when people knew nothing about the BJP,” Gao said.
Reminiscing his association with Prof Tado during the initial years of establishing the party, former president and a founding member Tabe Hare said: “Along with PB Acharya (now Governor of Nagaland), we had identified Prof Tado, which led him to contest the 1-Western Parliamentary seat during the 1990 parliamentary election.”
State BJP Vice President Nani Laeji said Prof Tado was not just an academician or a political leader. “He was a social reformer. Many of the socio-cultural reforms within the Apatani tribe have his stamp all over,” Laeji said.
Former MLA Nyato Rigia described him as a gentleman and a supportive teacher (at JNC, Pasighat).
Earlier, Gamlin read out Prof Tado’s biography and career.
The party members observed a minute’s silence as a mark of respect to the departed soul.
The university also remained closed for the rest of the day as a mark of respect.
The students and teachers of the university’s political science department have also mourned his demise.
The Arunachal Pradesh College Teachers’ Association (APCTA) has also mourned the demise of Prof Tado.
Recalling him as a true academician and a man of principles under whose competent guidance, many research scholars, including college teachers, have been awarded PhD degrees by Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), APCTA General Secretary Dr Eli Doye termed his death an irreparable loss to the state in general and to the students of RGU in particular.
