As the outrage over presentation of Bihu in ‘distorted’ manner while welcoming United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for G20 Summit is growing day by day, the Cultural Affairs Department of Assam on Saturday clarified that the group dancing the folk dance of the state was not sent by them.

In a statement, the director of the department stated, “I wish to clarify that the group dancing the folk dance of Assam while welcoming United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was not sent from the department. We are also not aware from where the group was sent or who allowed them to dance Bihu in that manner.”

“No one from the government or NGO approached or contacted us for presenting our culture while welcoming the prime minister of UK,” it added. (translated from Assamese)

This has raised questions of who sent or allowed the group to present Assam’s rich culture in ‘distorted’ manner, not once but twice.

It has come to the fore that the same group of dancers had earlier presented the folk dance in the similar ‘distorted’ way while welcoming Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih last year in August.

Meanwhile, the incident has garnered criticism from the Assamese community as it has hurt their sentiments and demanded a stringent action from the organizers.