A century after Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhupen Hazarika was born, the Chief Minister's Office of Assam is asking the state's youth to do what the legendary singer always did — find a way to make people feel something. On Sunday, 25 October 2026, the CMO announced a special 'Insta Reel Competition' to mark the birth centenary of the iconic Assamese artist, with Olympic bronze-medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain stepping up as the face of the call to action.

Lovlina Borgohain carries the centenary message to Assam's youth

The choice of Lovlina Borgohain — a world-class athlete who grew up in Assam and carried the state's pride to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics — is a deliberate one. She bridges sporting achievement and cultural pride, two pillars the Assam government has leaned on heavily during the centenary year. Her appeal directly targets young Assamese who consume short-form video, urging them to channel creativity in honour of a legend whose songs once moved millions across linguistic barriers.

The competition is hosted on the official portal of the Directorate of Culture, Assam at directorculture.assam.gov.in. Entries are being sought under the hashtag #BhupenDaAt100, framing the centenary as a living, participatory tribute rather than a purely archival one.

Who was Bhupen Hazarika — and why a hundred years still matters

Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, born on 8 September 1926 in Sadiya, Assam, spent six decades composing, singing, filming and writing in a voice that was simultaneously deeply regional and universally human. His songs tackled displacement, the Brahmaputra's floods, caste, and the search for dignity — themes that travel well across generations. The Government of India conferred the Bharat Ratna on him posthumously in 2019, cementing his place in the country's highest cultural canon.

Since his passing in 2011, the Assam government has periodically marked his legacy through memorial concerts and film retrospectives. The 2026 birth centenary has elevated those efforts into a year-long state programme — the Insta Reel contest being among the most outward-facing moves to pull in a demographic that may know his name but hasn't yet sat with his music.

Why short-form video is the centenary's smartest bet

Indian state governments have increasingly turned to Instagram Reels and similar platforms to keep regional heritage alive in the scroll economy. Assam itself has deployed social-media campaigns to amplify Bihu and Sattriya dance traditions, and those efforts produced measurable spikes in online engagement among younger audiences. A reel competition lowers the barrier — a smartphone, a song snippet, a creative idea — and turns passive admiration into active participation.

For a centenary that could easily remain confined to government auditoriums, the digital format is a genuinely smart extension. Whether it produces a viral moment worthy of the legend is now entirely up to Assam's youth.