Bihu & creation of Assamese sub-nationalism

Assamese sub-nationalism, which is often in overt display taking many of us to the edge of being called racist, is a post-independence phenomenon stitched together through Bihu by the elders to give Assam the political taste of regionalism.

Many will like to disagree and disbelieve, but the sublime sub-nationalism of Assamese came into being only in the early-70s when the social leaders of Assam repackaged Bihu as the best-combining factor and calculatedly brought it out from the pockets of greater Sivasagar district and gently unrolled it over the Brahmaputra valley to give the shape regionalism.

Today, Bihu can be seen in Nalbari, Goalpara and even the riverine ‘char’ areas but the fact is that till mid-60s, Bihu hardly had crossed the traditional boundaries of the old Sivasagar district.