Guwahati, April 21: Following the setting of a new Guinness World Record for the largest Bihu dance performance, the Bodo community in Assam is now getting ready to present their traditional Bagurumba dance on a massive stage.
The community is planning to showcase its rich cultural heritage by organizing a Bagurumba dance performance with over 20,000 artists, with the aim of setting a new Guinness World Record.
The Bodo Tribe is recognized as one of Assam’s first immigration groups. The Brahmaputra valleys are home to the majority of this ethnic population. This is the state’s largest minority group. This tribe is thought to have crossed into Assam from Tibet via passes in Bhutan.
Bodo’s struggle for a separate state
The Bodoland Movement aimed to undermine the then-geopolitical structure in Assam and
seek to create a breakaway state for the local Bodo people. The groundwork for this movement was already laid during the British era when they permitted the immigration of landless peasants from Bengal’s bordering, densely populated districts (now Bangladesh) to Assam’s sparsely populated, Bodo-dominated Brahmaputra Valley districts.
Even after gaining independence, this migration pattern persisted. Tribal people were compelled to vacate their land as a result of the intense pressure that the large increase in the migrant population placed on it. Tribal people were made to rely on the higher caste landlord ruling elite throughout the post-colonial era. They were also denied the advantages of industrialization, thus their economies remained at a peasant level.
The Assamese Tribal people had come to the realization that Assamese nationalism threatens their culture, heritage, and sense of self and that they are being marginalized on both an economic and political level.
The All Assam Plains Tribal League (AAPTL) was established in 1933, and the Bodo Sahitya Sabha was established in 1952, demonstrating the Bodo people’s efforts to define their own sociopolitical identity. With the establishment of political organizations like the All Bodo Students’; Union (ABSU) and the Plain Tribal Council of Assam (PTCA) in 1967, a platform for the Bodoland struggle was created.
The Bodo’s; political autonomy was demanded by the PTCA, and this demand took the
form of the notion for a distinct union territory called Udayanchal, which would include all of the tribal regions on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river.
In response to the collapse of PTCA, the All Bodo Students’; Union started the Bodo Movement in 1987 with the demand for a distinct state to be called Bodoland, which culminated in the Bodo Accord of 1993 with the creation of the Bodoland Autonomous Council.
The agreement called for the establishment of the democratically elected Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC), which was an administrative division of Assam rather than the autonomous state that the Bodos had envisioned.
The Bodoland Autonomous Council Act, of 1993 was passed after the BAC Bill was introduced in the Assam State Assembly on April 5, 1993.
The Bodo Liberation Tiger Force (BLTF), the Centre, and the state all agreed to the second Bodo Accord in 2003. This resulted in the formation of BTC (Bodoland Territorial Council), an autonomous organization recognized by the Constitution’s Sixth Schedule.
The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), a banned terrorist organisation based in Assam, and the Central Government signed the Tripartite Bodo Accord or Memorandum of the Settlement on January 27, 2020. The Bodo Accord’s goal is to establish peace and put an end to the Bodo-Kachari People’s separatist claims. This agreement builds upon the existing Accord of 2003.
Also Read: KHADC takes action against non-tribal hawkers operating without trade license in Meghalaya
Bodo people’s heart: Bagurumba
Following Assam’s entry into the Guinness Book of World Records a few days ago, the state’s Bodo community is now preparing to perform its traditional Bagurumba dance in front of a large audience in an effort to break the previous record of more than 20,000 performers.
The Bagurumba dance, a vital component of Bodo culture, is renowned for its beautiful moves. It is anticipated that the community’s attempts to introduce this dancing style to the international scene will highlight the area’s distinctive customs and aid in their preservation for future generations.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, has also declared the government’s plan to promote the folk dance of the Bodo people on a global scale.
The Bodo culture would not be complete without the Bagurumba dance. Through this dance
performance, the community now hopes to introduce the world to its rich history and traditions.