Astronaut’s Bihu Dance Goes Viral, But Is the Video Old?

Guwahati : An American astronaut performed the Bihu stunt on the International Space Station (ISS), drawing applause from Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as the state celebrated Rongali Bihu on the occasion of Assamese New Year. A video of Mike Fincke, who is married to Renita Saikia, an Assamese woman, performing Bihu with a traditional ‘gamosa’ (scarf) around his neck and a Bihu song playing in the background, went viral on social media.

Sharing the video on X, Sarma wrote: “Bihu is on the International Space Station. Thank you to astronaut Mike Fincke for this special gesture towards Assamese culture.”

In the context of Bihu Binandia, regarding the Bihu performance in Guwahati in April 2023, which was attended by around 10,000 people and witnessed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sarma was quick to mention the Prime Minister and said: “It’s great to see Bihu going global, especially after the special attention given by Adarniya Shri @narendramodi ji during #BihuBinandia” (sic).

Many X users have asked Assam CM that the video is about Tarun Gogoi’s Assam CM and Dr. While Manmohan Singh was quick to point out that it dates back to 2004, when he was then prime minister, some other users argued that this could be a new image even though he had done the performance in 2004 as well. This seems to be the case, judging by the fact that the video was posted on Colonel Fincke’s Instagram account two days ago.