Assam will make Guinness record with 11,000 performers on Bihu

GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will watch 11,140 dancers and drummers perform at Bihu in Guwahati to enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest folk dance recital.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Modi would be present at the state government’s April 14 event, which was primarily launched to popularize Bihu internationally.
We will also invite all the Governors and Chief Ministers of India. Our ministers will visit the states from March 20 to 30 to invite them.

Apart from this, all ambassadors and high commissioners of G20 countries and Southeast Asian countries will be invited to India to witness the grand programme, Sarma said.
A total of 11,140 dancers and drummers will participate. The ratio of boys and girls will be 30:70. There will be participants from every district of Assam,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that the government has already sent a sample video of Bihu dance with limited number of dancers to Guinness World Records which has given its initial approval.

“If we can do it as planned, it will be the biggest bihu dance at a single venue. The duration of the dance will be 15 minutes. It will be a short and fast program,” he said.
Sarma said that all the participants will be given an allowance of Rs 10,500, with which they will also buy two pairs of dresses.
From next year, the state government will celebrate a seven-day Bihu in Sivasagar and Guwahati to coincide with the Hornbill Festival of Nagaland, and it will be included as an Assam calendar event, he said.
During the ceremony, the Prime Minister will launch the Rang Ghar beautification project. We will also try to inaugurate AIIMS in Guwahati as well as lay the foundation stone of Palasbari-Sualkuchi bridge over Brahmaputra.
The ‘Rang Ghar’, an amphitheater, was built by King Pramatta Singha. This two-storied oval-shaped pavilion at Sivasagar is the largest of its kind in Asia.

Apart from this, the state government has decided to offer a grant of Rs 1.5 lakh to each Bihu Jashan committee and a detailed SOP will be published in the next few days, Sarma said.
“After registering Bihu in the Guinness Book of World Records, our next endeavor is to get the Bodo community’s Bagurumba dance in the record book next year. We are already talking to the Bodo Land Territorial Council,” he said. added.
The chief minister also said that the police would launch a “severe operation” to stop the sale of machine-made ‘Gamocha’ (Assamese scarves), which recently received the coveted Geographical Indication (GI).
“There are 1.2 lakh weavers in the state and all of them are disappointed to see machine-made Gamocha, Mekhela-Chador (traditional women’s dress) and Aronai (Bodo scarf) being sold in Assam. All come from outside the state,” he said. He added.

Sarma said the police have been instructed to seize all machine-made products coming from outside the state.