HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, April 26: On the occasion of the Assamese ‘Rongali Bihu’ festival, people of the Lumpi area celebrated the Bihu festival for the first time in Lower Lumpi with a day-long cultural programs and traditional games among the children of the area on Tuesday. People of the area named it as – ‘The Bihu of the border’, as the location is situated along the Assam- Meghalaya border under Kamrup district’s Boko revenue circle.
It is also to be mentioned that the Lumpi area is trendy for tourists as a hill station which is very near from Guwahati city (about 100 kilometers) and also sometimes make headlines for border disputes.
On this occasion, several traditional games including long jump, high jump, blindfold duck catching and many other traditional games were organised.
The day-long program was presided over by the president of the Bihu committee, Man Bahadur Thapa and the secretary, Suman Srish.
Suman Srish, secretary said, “The Lower Lumpi border outpost in-charge, Jini Saikia and Kamrup Police took the initiative to celebrate the Bihu festival.”
Kamrup district superintendent Hitesh Chandra Ray, additional deputy commissioner Kamrup (Rural) Pranab Dutta Goswami, Boko police station officer in-charge Phanindra Nath took part as chief guest in the Bihu celebration.
Hitesh Chandra Ray, SP Kamrup said while encouraging the youths of the Lumpi area, “Rongali Bihu is generally for boys and girls who celebrate it by wearing traditional Assamese attires and by performing the traditional Bihu dance.”
SP Ray also encouraged the people of the Lumpi area and also emphasised on celebrating Bihu every year so that the future generations will continue the Assamese culture.
Later in the evening, the cultural stage was opened by Sumit Rabha, executive member, Arjun Chetry, general member of RHAC and many other dignitaries.
Arjun Chetry, in his speech, said, “Lumpi people have started a great initiative which should have been started before. But this will inform the future generations of our culture of Assam. Most of the people living in the Lumpi areas belong to the Gorkha community but we have been living here since before freedom, so we know how to celebrate our culture.”
“Without culture and education, a tribe and its generations cannot move forward. So, we have to pay attention to celebrate culture and education too. We also thank the district administration, police, media and public for the success of the cultural program,” Chetry added.
Sumit Rabha, executive member of the RHAC said, “For the first time, Lumpi people are organising Rongali Bihu festival and this is a good sign for the people living in the interstate border of the Assam village, Lumpi. Despite being an interstate border area, this is a milestone for the people living in the area who are celebrating the festival. I am also grateful that I could witness, for the first time, the celebration of Bihu, which is called ‘The Bihu of the border’. I thank the Lumpi border outpost in-charge and the police team, as well as the district administration and the Kamrup district superintendent of police, who came and celebrated Bihu with the Lumpi people. I hope people of the Lumpi area will continue the celebration of the Rongali Bihu festival in the coming days.”
During the media interaction, Arjun Chetry also said the Khasi and Garo people from Meghalaya state also took part in the celebration and it has become a field of harmony.
