GUWAHATI: The Assam government’s move to introduce a dress code, albeit voluntarily, for its employees has triggered a controversy.
The government wants employees to come to office in “traditional attires” on the first and third Saturdays every month. Assam is home to various ethnic groups and they have different traditional attires. So, the employees are demanding clarity on the word “traditional”.
They say if the traditional attires are that of the Assamese—dhoti-kurta for men and mekhela-sadar for women—then it will be an “imposition”.
Some sniffed an RSS design in the move. Their suspicion stems from the government’s attempt to make Sanskrit compulsory in schools that have teachers of the subject.
P K Borthakur, principal secretary in the department of personnel, wrote to P K Tiwary, principal secretary in the department of general administration, over formulation of a suitable dress code proposal. He wrote that the proposal had been advised by chief secretary V K Pipersena.
“…On the occasion of Civil Services Day, as per appeal of the honourable chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal), many officers came dressed up in traditional attires, dhoti-kurta by the male officials and mekhela-sadar by the lady officials... It appears that coming in traditional dresses also induced feelings of enthusiasm and spirit among officers,” Borthakur wrote.
The All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) wondered if the proposed traditional attires were that of the Assamese.
“Whose traditional dress is it? If it is dhoti-kurta and mekhela-sadar, then it will be an imposition,” ABSU president Pramod Boro said.
Opposition Congress alleged that it was an attempt of the government to please the RSS. “It is nothing but to draw the attention of the RSS…The dress code will affect the day’s working as the employees will be busy looking at one another and taking selfies,” said party spokesperson Apurba Kumar Bhattacharya.
The employees are divided. While some believed that the dress code would help protect their cultural identity, others pointed out the difficulties which Assamese men would face in wearing dhoti and carrying it.