The Trinamool Congress and the Congress, the two main opposition parties in Assam, said on Monday that the Bihu dance performance that was screened before the arrival of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Delhi ahead of the G20 Summit was ‘distorted.’ The performances ‘harmed the dignity’ of the indigenous dance genre, according to the parties, who have requested that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma apologise to the state’s citizens.
But the Assam chief minister asserted that now is ‘not the time to discuss this,’ as the nation is basking in a ‘proud moment’ following the conclusion of the G20 Summit.
On September 8, the day before the two-day G20 Summit in Delhi began, Rishi Sunak arrived in Delhi. To welcome the dignitaries of the Summit, traditional dances from a number of states were performed at the airport.
Ripun Bora, the leader of the Assam TMC, claimed that the BJP-led state administration has repeatedly ‘distorted’ the Bihu dance. He claimed that in 2022, when the president of the Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, visited India, a similar incident of exhibiting the Bihu dance in a ‘distorted manner’ also took place.
The TMC leader questioned why such “distortion” of the Bihu dance, which he referred to as the lifeblood of the Assamese people, was let to occur after Himanta Biswa Sarma ‘spent more than Rs 100 crore to achieve the recent Guinness World Record.’ Assam set a world record in April of this year when 11,304 dancers and drummers performed the Bihu dance in one location.
Why hasn’t the Assam Chief Minister denounced what happened in Delhi, Ripun Bora questioned. The Trinamool Congress sought an investigation to determine whose authority permitted the ‘distortion’ of the Bihu dance to occur.
Bhupen Borah, the leader of the Assam Congress, also criticised the performance and stated that ‘Bihu is not just a dance but also a folk dance. Every folk dance has specific standards, however the G20 presentation of the Assamese folk dance diminished the dignity of the customary Bihu dance.’
Additionally, he urged the government to take action and stated, ‘I would beg the government to make sure that they want to uplift our culture since Assamese society is wholly related to the tradition. Both the federal government and the state governments need to accept accountability. The head of the Congress stated that the Assamese people must apologise to the federal government.’
Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, remarked, ‘These days are a very important and proud moment for the country,’ as the debate over the Bihu dance performance heated up. Later, we shall talk about it.
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