GUWAHATI, Aug 30 - Expressing concern over the spurt in celebration of festivals and occasions such as Bhole Bom, Chhath Puja, Ganesh Chaturthi, Rakhi Bandhan, Dhan Teras, Sani Puja, etc., having little to do with Assamese culture and traditions, public activist Prof Deven Dutta has said that it is quite disturbing that more and more Assamese youths are starting to celebrate these festivals of north and north-west India.
�Celebration of these festivals by the Assamese people on such a large scale is totally uncalled for, and the day is not far when the Assamese people will be bereft of their roots due to the onslaught of these alien cultures,� Prof Dutta said in a statement.
Prof Dutta said that while the forces of globalisation were at the root of the growing commercialisation of such festivities, matters stood worsened by the attempt of a right wing political party having its base in north and west India � under the garb of thwarting the communal and fundamentalist designs of another political party espousing the cause of people of a particular religion and language � to establish its own radical regime in the State.
�This political party is actively encouraging and patronising celebration of north and north-west Indian festivals in Assam. The result is the large-scale celebration by Assamese people of occasions they did not even know the names of till a decade back. This is having disturbing implications for the Assamese social life,� he added.
Prof Dutta questioned why the Assamese people, especially the youths, did not exhibit any inclination to embrace the festivals of the various ethnic groups of the State instead of blindly becoming a part of the festivities of the north and west India.
�Had we exhibited a similar zeal in celebrating the festivals of the various ethnic tribes of Assam, it would have gone a long way in the formation of a healthy, composite nationalism in Assam,� he said.
