A four-day festival beginning next month will showcase music, dance, fashion and food of the northeastern states with a special focus on "bridging the cultural gap" in the wake of several incidents of attacks on people from the region.
Icons from the northeast like champion boxers M C Mary Kom and Shiva Thapa, Bollywood actor Adil Hussain and Everest conqueror Anshu Jamsenpa among others and policy makers are expected to attend the event scheduled from November 7 to 10.
Other than exhibiting the cultural heritage of northeastern states, the festival organisers will also hold discussions on critical issues concerning the region.
"The theme this year is 'Insurgence to Resurgence' with focus on highlighting the positive stories of entrepreneurship and development," said chief organiser of the festival Shyamkanu Mahanta.
"The whole objective is to present to the people of Delhi North East India in one platform and also to encourage tourism," he said.
"We want to show that just because we have different racial features, we should not be neglected. The festival is an attempt to bring people together and make them aware about the northeastern culture, which will help in avoiding any such discrimination," said Joint Commissioner (Training) Robin Hibu, who is the nodal officer for northeast people in Delhi Police.
The festival will be held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and is being organised by socio-cultural trust Trend MMS in association with the northeast community of Delhi comprising student organisations and activists.
"We are going to highlight the recent attacks on people of the northeast. There is a cultural gap, especially between people from the northeast and other parts of the country. The main goal of this festival is to bridge this cultural gap," said J T Tagam, a social worker from Arunachal Pradesh.
A session will be held on ways of introducing subjects from northeast in school and college curriculum to create awareness about the region.
