National Handloom Day 2020: Smriti Irani shares how handlooms enrich lives, urges people to share pictures of their favourite handloom product – art and culture

Smriti Irani, India’s Union Minister of Textiles marked the occasion of National Handloom Day by sharing how handloom can enrich our lives and surroundings, and urging people to use handmade items from their clothing to furnishings.

The former model-turned-actor took to her Instagram account and shared pictures of herself dressed in handloom, saree to mask as she stood beside handcrafted wall decor that resembled Lord Shiva. She captioned the post, “Handloom can enrich our daily lives and surrounding in many ways; from clothing to furnishing to Masks in Covid times to wall hanging. Bring home handmade in India! I take pride in celebrating India’s legacy, I am #Vocal4Handmade. Are you? Share your pictures with pride in support of our weavers and artisans for we are #Vocal4Handmade.”

Other than Smriti, several other celebrities including Bollywood actors including Janhvi Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Kangana Ranaut and others also took to social media to share pictures of themselves donning their favourite handloom clothing.

Today, on August 7, India is celebrating its 6th National Handloom Day in memory of the Swadeshi Movement which was launched on the same day in 1905. On this day, India’s handloom weavers, from Kanjivaram to Pashmina, are recognised for their contribution to India. The Swadeshi Movement was launched to protest against the partition of Bengal by the British Government.

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