BJP MP urges prominent people from U'khand to celebrate 'Igas' festival in remote villages


PTI | New Delhi | Updated: 13-11-2021 14:10 IST | Created: 13-11-2021 14:10 IST
BJP MP urges prominent people from U'khand to celebrate 'Igas' festival in remote villages
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Aiming to ensure that remote villages on the International Border in Uttarakhand do not get deserted, BJP MP Anil Baluni has urged prominent people from the state to celebrate the local festival of 'Igas' or 'Budh Diwali' in their ancestral villages and register their votes in these places as well.

As part of the campaign started by Baluni in 2018, he has launched an initiative called 'Apna Vote, Apne Gaon' (cast your vote in your own village) so that people who have migrated from these villages go back to the remote areas during elections.

Noting that migration has become a ''serious problem'' in remote villages, Baluni said, ''The campaign to revive this 'Lok Parv' was launched to ensure that villages along China and Nepal don't get deserted. Under this campaign, I have also been requesting people to register their votes in their native villages so that these places stay connected.'' Baluni, who is the BJP's national media head and chief spokesperson, said the broader idea behind his mission to revive Uttarakhand's 'Lok Parv' is to connect people migrated from the state to their roots and trigger reverse migration.

''Main focus of this campaign is remote villages and far-flung places in Uttarakhand affected by migration. So that people will travel at least once or twice in a year to these remote villages to celebrate this festival and cast their votes which will also usher economic activities in these border areas and wouldn't let these villages important for national security get deserted,'' Baluni said.

The folklore behind 'Igas or Budh Diwali' is that the news of Lord Ram's arrival in Ayodhya after completing 14 years of 'vanvas' reached the remote hills 11 days later. Therefore, the festival is celebrated 11 days after Diwali with the same fervour and gaiety.

The celebrations include distributing sweets and making traditional dishes. In Garhwal, people celebrate by playing 'bhailo', a traditional form of fireworks, while in Kumaon, people worship cows and light 'diyas'.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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