Covid-19 threat looms over Rongali Bihu celebrations in Assam

Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's announcement on April 6 amid the Assembly elections that Rongali Bihu, the state's biggest festival would be celebrated with fanfare this year had many elated.

But the SOP (standard operating procedure) issued two days later put organisers of the spring festival in a tight spot. The SOPs asked the Bihu organisers to wind up the Bihu functions by 11 pm and ensure that masks are worn at all times and social distancing norms are maintained. "How can a flutist perform wearing mask? How will an artist sing with mask on and can a Bihu dancer maintain distance while performing?" asked a Bihu organiser at Latasil in Guwahati.

The Bihu functions are organised on raised platforms where Bihu troupes perform dances in traditional attires following which singers like Zubeen Garg and Papon sing in front of thousands who gather for the celebrations till late at night. The Rongali Bihu — the spring festival — could not be organised last year due to the Covid-19 lockdown. But this time, the organising committees have collected donations and made a lot of preparations as Sarma publicly announced during the elections that Bihu would be celebrated.

"We are really in a tight spot. We can't cancel the Bihu function as we have collected donations and made advance payments to the artists and the decorators. And if we go ahead and celebrate the function the way we do, government will blame us if there is a surge in Covid-19 cases post-Bihu," said the organiser.

Kailash Sarma, a member of an apex body of Bihu organising committees in Guwahati said they requested the government to extend the 11 pm time set by the government and take care of the thermal scanning of the visitors and the social distancing aspects. "We want government's help in this regard," he said. Some members of the Bihu committees even staged a protest in Guwahati seeking relaxation on the SOPs.

"Why no safety norms were followed during campaigning for the Assembly elections? Even our health minister (Himanta Biswa Sarma) publicly said there is no need to wear mask. Now he is talking about Covid as the election is over," said another organiser at Jalukbari in Guwahati, from where Sarma contested the Assembly elections again.

Sarma, however, said the health department scaled up tests in order to ensure that Bihu is celebrated without much concern for Covid-19. The number of tests was, however, reduced even during the Assembly elections.

According to a bulletin issued by the health department, the state reported 583 Covid-19 positive cases on Monday out of the 1,02,182 tests conducted. The state at present has 2,387 Covid-19 positive cases.