bdnews24.com New Delhi Correspondent

New Delhi, Nov 16 (bdnews24.com)—The beats of a 'hundred drums' soared into sky near the Bangladesh-India border last week to weave a new bond between the two neighbours.

Wangala, the greatest harvest festival of the Garos, has turned into a new meeting point for people from both sides of the border.

A troupe of around 30 Garo drummers and dancers from Bangladesh recently crossed the border to join their ethnic siblings in northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya to celebrate the annual jamboree, which is also known as 'hundred drum' festival.

The troupe accompanied the state minister for cultural affairs Promod Mankin, who was the guest of honour in the closing ceremony of the festival that was held near Tura in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya.

Garo troupes from India are also expected to take part in the Wangala festival in Bangladesh.

Mankin was one of the two Garo luminaries, who were honoured during the festival for their achievements.

Speaking in the closing ceremony, the former Speaker of the Indian Parliament's Lower House, P A Sangma, said that all the Garos in Meghalaya felt proud as Mankin represented the community both in the Bangladesh government headed by prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

He lauded Mankin's effort to preserve and promote the cultural heritage of the Garos in Bangladesh.

Sangma, himself, had invited Mankin to take part in the Wangala festival in Tura.

Sangma is the most prominent politician of national stature from the Garo community of Meghalaya. He was elected to the Indian Parliament for nine consecutive times from Tura. He is still a member of the Legislative Assembly in the state of Meghalaya. So are his two sons.

Sangma's daughter Agatha K Sangma now represents the Tura parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha (House of People) of the Indian Parliament. She is the youngest member of India's council of ministers headed by prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Mankin enthralled the huge crowd by playing the traditional flute. He also later joined Garo men and women, performing the Wangala dance.

"The Wangala or the Hundred Drums festival is indeed creating a new bond between people, particularly the Garos, of India and Bangladesh," Mankin told bdnews24.com over phone from Tura.

Wangala festival is also celebrated in almost every Garo village in Bangladesh. "We are also planning to hold a central festival in Mymensingh just as our siblings do it in Meghalaya," said the state minister for cultural affairs.

The minister said that he had invited Sangmas and other Garo luminaries from India to travel to Bangladesh along with the troupes of drummers and dancers to take part in the Wangala festival there.

Agatha, minister of state for rural development in India's Union Government, gifted 30 traditional Garo drums to the members of the cultural troupe from Bangladesh.

Wangala is the greatest festival of the Garos both in India and Bangladesh. It is held in the November or December every year. The community thanks the traditional deity Misi Saljong, also known as Pattigipa Ra'rongipa (The Great Giver), for having blessed the human beings with a rich harvest of the season.

Garos are the second largest tribe of Meghalaya. Over a million Garos live in the West, East and South districts in Meghalaya's Garo Hills. A few thousand also live in Goalpara, Kamrup and Karbi Anglong districts of neighbouring Assam.

Nearly 200,000 Garos live in Bangladesh, mostly in and around Mymensingh.

The Garos have been celebrating the Wangala festival since time immemorial. It was however losing its appeal to the new generation of the community in the 1960s and 1970s. The Garo intellectuals of Meghalaya, however, has since 1976 been making efforts to revive it by holding the festival centrally near Tura under the patronage of the state government.

Mankin spoke about the Garos' struggle for constitutional recognition in Bangladesh and their demand for a separate ministry on the line of the tribal people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

He said that the Garos and other tribal communities in Bangladesh had suffered a lot in the past. He, however, added that his appointment as a state minister was a testimony of the Awami League government's commitment for welfare of the all minority community, including the tribal people, and for preservation of their heritage.

bdnews24.com/corr/rah/1230h