Karbi Youth Festival concludes; cancellation of Indian President’s visit clarified

DIPHU — The Karbi Cultural Society (KCS) felicitated several people, including founding president, secretary and others associated with the Karbi Youth Festival (KYF) since its inception in 1974, as well as leaders of KCS, to recognise their contribution towards the event.

The programme was held on the concluding day of the eight-day golden jubilee celebration of KYF at Golden Jubilee Memorial Auditorium in Taralangso. The leaders were felicitated with Karbi’s traditional turban along with a citation.

Lunse Timung, founding president of KCS, urged the younger generation to maintain originality, be it traditional dance, songs or music, lamenting that changes could be seen over the years.

‘Too much modification while adapting to the change of time and modernisation will lead to loss of originality. In KCS zones, during the rehearsals, dancers should be taught the original form of the dance as well as songs before coming to participate in the festival,’ he asserted.

Chief Executive Member (CEM) of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), the chief guest of the closing ceremony, said the proposed visit of President of India Droupadi Murmu to the event was cancelled due to bad weather conditions while lamenting that some were trying to make a political issue out of it.

‘When animal sacrifice (seh karkli) was performed to begin preparation for the celebration of KYF, the KCS president, Chandrasing Kro informed me that two hen sacrifice signs were not good. Since then, I had doubts that something untoward might happen. On January 16 evening, during a live concert of international rock band Nazareth, there was a heavy downpour. The next day, the Indian President was supposed to come.

‘The weather was gloomy. The helicopter of the Indian President tried to land at 11.30 a.m., but it was not possible. It tried again at 12.30 p.m. and then at 1.30 p.m. Finally, the landing was cancelled at 1.30 p.m. It was due to weather conditions that the President of India could not land,’ he clarified.

The CEM further stated that the KAAC, under SOPD funds, had allotted INR 1 crore.

Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier announced an annual allocation of INR 3 crore towards the festival through the Art and Culture Department, while the contribution from government employees (one day’s basic pay) is INR 1 crore, which means there is INR 5 crore, enough to organise the festival.

Ambassadors from nine countries attended this golden jubilee celebration, said the CEN, adding that more dignitaries from other nations would be invited in the next edition to take the festival to the global level.

As part of the golden jubilee, a total of 1500 people will demonstrate ‘kengdongdang pen kedam (walking on bamboo stilts)’ in an attempt to enter the Genius Book of World Record on January 21 at Bakulia bypass.

Books published by KCS titled ‘KYF – Phurkimo Akitap’, edited by Saising Rongpi; ‘Lokimo’, the mouthpiece of KCS published on the occasion of the golden jubilee celebration and edited by KCS, general secretary, Bidyasing Rongpi; and ‘Barika’ edited by Jorsing Bey were also released on the occasion.

Chaired by KCS president Kro and welcome address delivered by KCS general secretary, Bidyasing Rongpi, the closing ceremony was also attended by dignitaries including MP Horensing Bey; and MLAs Bidyasing Engleng and Dorsing Ronghang.

Also read: President Murmu’s visit to Karbi Youth Festival cancelled