Assam’s mid-January festival of feasting is expected to be a fiery political statement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
Various organisations and individuals have appealed to revellers to burn copies of the Act at the Bhogali Bihu bonfires of bhelaghar, a temporary hay-and-bamboo structure.
“We cannot ignore our age-old festivals but at the same time we cannot let a piece of legislation that threatens our Assamese identity and our festivals. We appeal to the people to burn copies of CAA to register their protest,” All Assam Students’ Union general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said.
Organisations such as Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad and Cotton University Students’ Union have given similar calls.
Traditionally, pithas (rice cakes) and betel nuts are thrown into a meji, meaning bonfire, while wishing for a bountiful harvest for the farm season ahead. Copies of CAA would be a “political addition”, community Bihu organisers said.
Anti-CAA sentiments have been all-pervading at Bhogali fairs and stalls that sell festival-related delicacies such as jaggery, curd, til pitha (sticky rice cake with black sesame filling), sunga pitha (rice cake baked inside whole bamboo pieces), ghila pitha (fried rice cakes), narikolor laaru (sweet coconut balls) and kol pitha (banana pancakes). Most of these stalls have been displaying placards reading “No CAA”, “Scrap CAA”, and “CAA is anti-Assam”.
