The Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP Government in Assam is gearing up to make the upcoming Bihu the most prominent spectacle on April 14. A massive publicity campaign is on in the national capital and in Kolkata and Mumbai for the upcoming event in Guwahati.
The State Government is leaving no stone unturned to make the Bihu event the greatest show on earth in terms of the participation of more than 11,000 Bihu dancers and drummers and to make an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest recital of the folk dance form.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will grace the event to be held at Sarusajai Indoor Stadium in Guwahati. Invitations are being extended to the Governors, Chief Ministers, Union Ministers, diplomats of G20 & ASEAN countries and other dignitaries for the upcoming event.
Himanta Biswa Sarma is monitoring the event
Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma is monitoring the all-out preparations for the big event closely to make it a roaring success. “The Chief Minister has been monitoring the preparations to the smallest details so that Bihu, the lifeline of Assamese culture, is well known to the whole world,” said a senior State Government official privy to the development.
Taking to the micro-blogging platform, Twitter, Chief Minister Sarma said, “Preparations are on in full swing for April 14, when over 11,000 Bihu dancers will create history by performing together at Sarusajai Stadium in August presence of Hon PM @narendramodi ji. Reviewed arrangements at the venue and asked officials to make the event truly memorable.”
Assam set for World Record
Master trainers have been trained to impart the subtle nuances of the Bihu dance form to the scores of dancers roped in from each district across the State.
The Chief Minister himself was present when training of master trainers was underway at Sarusajai Sports Complex, the venue for the biggest Bihu event. “I am delighted to be present at Sarusajai Stadium, where training of master trainers is underway for the grand Bihu event. Assam is all set to create a World Record with 11,000 dancers participating in the event on April 14 which will be graced by Adaraniya @narendramodi Ji.”
The Government has already sent a sample video of the Bihu dance with limited dancers to the Guinness World Records, which has given its initial clearance. “If everything goes out as per plan, it will be the largest Bihu dance recital at a single venue. The duration of the dance will be 15 minutes only,” said another official
All the participants will be given an allowance of Rs 10,500, from which they will also buy two pairs of costumes.
Hoardings have come up in the waiting sheds of bus stops in prominent places of the national capital welcoming everyone to join in the biggest Bihu festival and to create history together. Even in the yellow and blue lines of Delhi Metro, all the coaches have been wrapped up in Bihu hoardings. Hoardings can be seen on the major roads leading to the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Not only in Delhi-NCR, the Government has also launched publicity in a big way in Mumbai and Kolkata metropolises, even in Metro trains.
Birth anniversary celebrations of Lachit Barphukan
This upcoming event comes close on the heels of the concluding function of the year-long 400th birth anniversary celebrations of Ahom General Lachit Barphukan in the national capital in November last year.
Delhi resident Sanjay Dikshit, who was waiting at a bus stop at Chanakyapuri where hoardings have been splashed all over, said, “I have heard something about Bihu festivity of Assam which coincides with other festivities like Baisakhi, Vishu, Puthandu, Poila Boishaki, etc. But my knowledge was little. Now, I started surfing the internet and gathered a wealth of information on it and also how the Assam Government is making efforts to make the Bihu event a spectacular one by finding a place of pride in the Guinness Book.”
On April 14-15 every year, Rongali or Bohag Bihu heralding the Assamese New Year is widely celebrated across Assam, and parts of Manipur and Bengal. The Assamese celebrate Bihu thrice a year, which signify the distinct cycles of farming – Bhogali/Magh Bihu (January), Bohag/Rongali Bihu (April), and Kongali Bihu (October).
The colourful springtime folk festival is related to agricultural prosperity, seasonal change, and raising livestock as well as the way of living in an agrarian society.
Apart from being a colourful festival of joy and merriment, Bihu also depicts the ingrained value of respecting the elders in which the younger generation showers respect by offering bihuwan or gamucha (colourful cloth with handwoven motifs) by touching the feet of elders.
The innocuous Bihu songs are treasure trove of Assamese oral literature. Quintessentially quatrain in nature, in most of the Bihu songs, the first two lines are related to nature and the second two lines are about love, courtship, various springtime flowers, birds, people’s daily lives and activities, and their experiences of the environment, culture, and history.
Though it is difficult to trace the genesis of the Bihu songs and dances, it was endorsed as a performing art form style by the Ahom king, Rudra Singha, who invited Bihu dancers to perform Bihu in the open field of Asia’s ancient and largest amphitheatre, the Rang-Ghar, situated in Upper Assam’s Sivasagar district.
Patronisation of Bihu songs and dances reached the zenith during the 600-year-long reign of the Ahom dynasty in Assam. Following the patronisation of Bihu by the Ahoms, Bihu has become an intrinsic part of the Assamese community.
Various Assamese delicacies like til pitha, narikolor laddoo, murir laddoo, ghila pitha, poka mithoi are made on the day of Bihu. Women, men and children sing and dance in gay abandon to the accompaniment of traditional drums (dhol), traditional cymbals (taal), buffalo horn instruments (pepa), bamboo instrument (gagana), flute (baahi), etc, feasting, exchanging gifts, donning new attire, and performing the traditional Bihu dance in open field and stage.
The hand woven gamucha is the warp and woof of Bihu festival. Even Mahatma Gandhi during his visit to Assam in January 1946, sang paeans on Assamese women weavers for ‘weaving fairy tales on their looms’. It is traditional to accord welcome to any visitor to Assam with a gamucha.
Meanwhile, the Assam Government has launched a special drive against the sale of the traditional attire of the state such as gamucha, mekhela sador and aronai which are manufactured in power looms.
The special drive, which will continue till April 14, is aimed at safeguarding the traditional weavers of the State who have been affected by the sale of traditional machine-made garments, mainly procured from outside the State.
Chief Minister Sarma had said that such a ban was a part of a larger effort to raise awareness about the traditional weaving industry of Assam and discourage the sale and procurement of machine-made products.
“Drives have in the past been conducted against the sale of such traditional items manufactured in power looms. Now, I have asked the DCs and SPs to intensify the campaign against the sale of such power loom-made items and also get in touch with the textile merchants’ association urging it to refrain from procuring such items from outside the state before they get seized here,” Sarma said.
The all-out efforts by the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP Government to take Bihu to world stage is truly commendable.
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