Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tries his hand at painting at the North East Festival at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi on Friday. The three-day festival aims to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the Northeast .

Inaugurating the festival, Sarma said, 'The festival is a successful national platform to showcase the Northeast. All of us should support this great initiative.'

The festival is promoting Assam tourism under the platform, Destination North East. A presentation, Awesome Assam, was made for tour operators of Delhi and officials of the central tourism ministry.

'The three-day festival will showcase the region in all its glory and colourful hues via art, crafts and culture, songs, dance, movies, food, sports and fashion,' said an organiser.

The organisers have lined up popular singers from the Northeast such as Papon, Zubeen Garg, rapper Borkung Hrangkhal, DJ Zaeden, rock bands Traffic Jam, Fourth Element, Mo & The Shooting Stars and Reverse Tragedy.

Besides the raas leela of Manipur, around 20 folk dance forms will be presented by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. Fashion shows will feature around 20 talented designers and models of the region. Delectable cuisine from the region will also be on offer.

A display of traditional sports, photography exhibition, art workshops and interactive games are other events at the festival.

'We would like to invite all the people residing in Delhi-NCR to come and enjoy themselves. We hope the festival will create good vibes among the people of Northeast and rest of the country, and in the process help in integrate them,' said Shyamkanu Mahanta, the chief organiser of the festival. Text by Rajiv Konwar and picture by UB Photos