Guwahati: Bollywood actress of the yesteryears, has at last apologised to the people of Assam for her error in referring to Bihu as a Bihar festival. Hema Malini apologised for her incorrect greeting in a post on Twitter on Friday, a day later. She called it a “mistake” and said she was “sorry” about it.
The big fiasco occurred as Assam attempted to popularise Assamese culture over the world by setting a record in Bihu performance. She made a mistake that was unexpected given that she had only recently visited Assam as a chief guest for the Nalbari Raas celebrations.
Hema Malini had posted on her social media handles, “It is the Harvest season now. Tamizh Puthandu (New year), Baisakhi (Punjab), Bihu (Bihar) and Pohela Baisakh or Naba Barsha (Bengal) are some of the festivals celebrated. Wish you all a wonderful festival month,” where she had mentioned that Bihu is a festival of Bihar.
Netizens called her out for it and reminded her that Bihu is actually a festival celebrated in Assam, thus her error did not go ignored. Despite being well-known and an elected official, they criticised the actress for her ignorance of the states and their festivals.
While many of her supporters defended her, others questioned her dedication to learning about the country’s traditions and culture. It should be noted that Hema Malini was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka in 2011 and the Lok Sabha from the Mathura constituency in 2014, and she served in both houses from 2003 to 2009. She was also a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2003 to 2009.
It should be noted that Hema Malini was not the only person to make the error, as the official Twitter account for the Indian embassy in Japan also did.
The embassy on its official twitter handle wrote, “Embassy of India, Tokyo extends greetings to all on the occasion of Bihar Bihu.”
However, as of right now, they have also made the required adjustments.