Over a thousand artistes join BJP in Assam

Guwahati: Popularity and acceptance to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam have steadily increased. Once understood as a party of western India, the BJP has successfully gathered support from mainstream Assamese. A recent meeting, where over 1,300 artistes from different parts of the State joined the saffron party, speaks a volume about its adequacy among the cultural personalities.

State chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal graced the occasion, organised at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra on 6 December 2020 and commented that the people should avoid conflicts and solely focus on developing Assam to a larger height. Everyone should avoid negativity and work together with the determination to make Assam a model State, he added.

Earlier, Sonowal stepped into the matter of uncertainties that the eastern Assam based Dibrugarh All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan Kendra (DDK) would soon turn into only relay centres to broadcast and telecast only Guwahati AIR and DDK programs, had urged the Centre to retain the present status of both Dibrugarh AIR and DDK.

In a letter to the Union information and broadcasting (I&B) minister Prakash Javadekar, Sonowal raised the issue of Prasar Bharati’s recent directives for reassigning Dibrugarh AIR and DDK as relay centres where he asserted that both the centres remain instrumental in reflecting the cultural mosaic and indigenous traditions of communities in Assam including eastern districts of Arunachal Pradesh.

“Both the Dibrugarh AIR, which completed 50 years in 2019, and Dibrugarh DDK that is functioning as a full-fledged station since 1993 should not be relegated to the status of relay centres as Guwahati AIR and DDK would be overburdened to appropriately mirror the rich cultural nuances of this part of country,” said Sonowal in his letter.

He also touched upon the concerns caused by transfer of artistes and employees from Dibrugarh DDK to outside north-eastern region without replacements and underlined the resentment caused among the leading citizens of Assam about the possible loss of employment opportunities for local artistes in both the centres.