More than five centuries after saint-reformer Srimanta Sankaradeva created Bhaona , a dramatic form of entertainment to convey spiritualism in the Vaishnav mould, the Congress in Assam has tweaked it for a political statement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens.
On Monday, the party released its first “video advertisement” to bombard viewers with a message against the “anti-people” CAA and “discriminatory” NRC.
The Congress claimed the video, aired across social media platforms, has been trending with more than one million views within hours of being released. The political Bhaona uses music and the Brajavali language that Sankaradeva developed, and his disciples popularised from the Vaishnav monasteries.
It underlines Congress’s commitment to encouraging people to raise their voice against injustice and provide relief at the grassroots by scrapping CAA. The song affirms the party’s pledge to defeat all evil and communal forces. Nullifying CAA is among the Congress’s five guarantees party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra announced recently. The CAA, which seeks to protect non-Muslims who entered India from three neighbouring countries till December 31, 2014, is in conflict with the Assam Accord. The Accord, signed in 1985 by the Rajiv Gandhi government, prescribes the detection and deportation of all immigrants, irrespective of faith, who entered Assam after the midnight of March 24, 1971.
