Bhupen Goswami
GUWAHATI : The Bihu festival is said to be the lifeline of Assamese Sanskriti. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today participated in the Rongali Bihu festival being celebrated in Assam. In the presence of PM Modi, 11,304 artists have performed Bihu dance. A glimpse of the folk culture of Assam has been seen. Over 11,000 folk dancers and drummers set a Guinness World Record by performing Bihu dance at The Surasajaya Stadium in Guwahati. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said 11,304 dancers and drummers entered the Guinness World Record on Thursday by performing ‘Bihu’ dance and playing ‘dhol’ at the same venue. Bihu is the biggest singing of folk dance. In the presence of a judging team from the Guinness World Records headquarters in London, the artists presented their show and achieved a global feat for ‘Bihu’ dance and ‘dhol’. The Prime Minister has attended the Bihu celebrations at Sursajai Stadium. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held a road show with Bihu Festival. More than 10,000 artists from 31 districts have performed at the event. Giving information about this, Prime Minister Modi said that it is a pleasure for me to be among the people on Bihu. The Prime Minister said that this year’s Bihu festival is special as several development works have been inaugurated and foundation stones have been laid in Assam today, 14th April. Before the start of this program Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in Assam at 12:45 pm today to lay the foundation stone and inaugurate projects worth about Rs 14,300 crore, launched a sharp attack on the previous Congress government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Guwahati. He dedicated the first AIIMS of the North East to the nation. He also inaugurated three other medical colleges. These include Kokrajhar, Nalwari and Nagaon colleges and hospitals in Guwahati. The foundation stone of AIIMS Guwahati was laid by PM Modi in May 2017. It has been built at a cost of more than Rs 1120 crore. Apart from this, the PM gave a gift of Rs 14300 crore to Assam.The foundation stone of a 500-bed super-speciality hospital for modern research in collaboration with IIT-Guwahati has also been laid. The work of delivering Ayushman cards to lakhs of friends of Assam has started on a mission mode. The foundation stone of a 500-bed super-speciality hospital for modern research in collaboration with IIT-Guwahati has also been laid. The work of delivering Ayushman cards to lakhs of friends of Assam has started on a mission mode. In the last nine years, we have worked on infrastructure projects and that is why everyone talks about infrastructure projects related to connectivity. “We work with the spirit of being your servants, so the North-East does not feel far away from us and there is also a sense of belonging. Today, people in the North-East have taken the reins of development by coming forward. Wherever I go in the country and talk about the development that has taken place in the last nine years, it hurts some people. He complains that for decades he also ruled the country, why he does not get credit. The credit hungry people and the ruling spirit of the people have done a lot of harm to the country. The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for a research hospital within the IIT Guwahati campus, which will be jointly developed by IIT Guwahati and the Assam government, with an initial investment of Rs 600 crore. PM Modi distributed health cards to 1.1 crore people who will get a health cover of Rs 5 lakh every year. The Prime Minister also virtually inaugurated three projects. These include a methanol plant with a capacity of 500 tonnes per day (TPD) at Namrup in Dibrugarh by Assam Petro-Chemicals Limited (APL), constructed at an investment of Rs 1,709 crore. Another major project launched by the PM is the Palasbari-Sualkuchi bridge on the Brahmaputra. The Prime Minister also launched the “Assam COP” mobile-based application for police officers in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of the Gauhati High Court in Guwahati.