Gujarat CM attends International Kite Festival in Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel attended the International Kite Festival in Ahmedabad on Sunday. He also flew a kite on this occasion.

Participants brought kites with images of Lord Ram for the festival in the light of the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya which will be held on January 22.

An attendee from Denmark said, "It's my third time in India. I am very excited for this year. It looks like it is going to be bigger than last year. In the past, it has been fun. I have met several kite fliers from India, which has been interesting. I feel very welcomed here. Gujarat is beautiful. Last time I visited the Statue of Unity, learned about its history."

On January 14-15, Gujarat will celebrate the festival of Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan. Kite flying is an integral part of this festival, and people across the state throng to their rooftops to have a glimpse of the colourful skyline or to immerse themselves in kite flying. But a few years ago, the world was unaware of this festival.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his chief ministership in Gujarat, thought of making this local festival of Gujarat global and through Vibrant Gujarat, the kite festival was organised first in Ahmedabad and then in different cities across the state under the name of International Kite Festival. Kite flyers from all over the world were invited to take part in the festival in Gujarat.

Since then the International Kite Festival in Gujarat has become global.

 Making a kite, flying it and bringing down another person's kite is an art. Gopal Patel, an expert kite flyer, said he has had the opportunity to visit many different countries and showcase his kite flying skills, ever since the festival was promoted under Vibrant Gujarat. "Kite flyers and people from abroad are also coming to Gujarat to see this festival and this has increased tourism. Earlier, the kite flyers who used to make fun of our small kites copied the design of our kites," the kite flyer from Ahmedabad said.

Ever since the International Kite Festival started through Vibrant Gujarat, the fortunes of kite-making artisans have changed. Kite-making artisans mostly come from the Muslim community.

In earlier years, only a few traders used to come to local artists to buy kites from them and sell them in the market.

But ever since the Kite Festival started, people ever started contacting them from abroad. These artisans nowadays have worked almost throughout the year.

Rizwan Qadri, a historian, said that this kite festival has been celebrated in Gujarat for many years. "The beauty of this festival is that neither age nor religion nor discrimination of anything becomes a hindrance in celebrating this festival," Gadri asserted.