More than two dozen homemakers (housewives) of Dhanbad celebrated Republic Day by participating in a fashion show on Monday, a day ahead of Republic Day. The fashion show was organised by a Jharia-based youth organization Samadhan, in a private banquet hall of Saraidhela. The homemakers walked the ramp donning attires of our national heroes including Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Rani Lakshmi Bai, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Khudiram Bose, etc.

The event was organised with the aim of providing an opportunity to housewives who themselves do not get the chance of participating in competitions and cultural programmes as they remain busy preparing their children for Republic Day functions.

The participants also delivered patriotic speeches, recited poems, sang nationalist songs and danced to the tune of patriotic songs.

Talking to The Telegraph Online, Samadhan founder, Chandan Singh said, “We invited people to join the programme using the social media platform and also spot entry in the event was accepted. People of 18 to 70 years of age were allowed entry during the programme."

Volunteers of Samadhaan perform cultural programme during the Republic Day function in Dhanbad on the eve of Republic Day on Monday. Picture by Gautam Dey

“We never expected such a tremendous response to our function. Manisha Minz, wife of Dhanbad SSP Aseem Vikrant Minz, participated as chief guest in the event. More than 30 homemakers also took part in the event,” said Singh and added that the function which was followed by lunch and prize distribution was organized with the personal contribution of more than two dozen Samadhan volunteers in order to provide the opportunity to the homemakers to participate in cultural programmes of Republic Day.

Mamta Chaudhary (55), mother of a BA Part II Student of SSLNT Women’s College, Sneha Chaudhary (22), who is also a volunteer of Samadhan and recited a patriotic poem during the show said, “Generally the Republic Day functions are either held at government or private offices, business establishments, school, colleges, etc. and thus the homemakers rarely get the opportunity to participate in cultural programmes. But we got the opportunity to participate in the function today due to the innovative thought of Samadhan founder, Chandan Singh.”

Echoing sentiment, Wasseypur resident, Nurjahan Begum (65), mother of another Samadhan Volunteer, Abda Parveen who also took part in the show donning the attire of a traditional Indian housemaker said, “We have five daughters and we as homemakers always remained busy preparing our children in order to let them participate in the cultural programme during their schools days and never got time for ourselves to participate in the Independence Day or Republic Day functions. Today we are very grateful to the organisers who provided us with the opportunity to participate in the function.”