Cultural fest turns political

hen Aam Admi Party-government in Delhi announced its plans to organize ‘Bihar Samman Samaroh’, Bhojpuri writers, artists and scholars were hopeful that their work will be valued and awarded. However, on Wednesday, soon after felicitating eight of them, the cultural program turned into a political platform for Nitish Kumar and Arvind Kejriwal with both taking pot-shots at Narendra Modi.

“Both the leaders didn’t say a single line about the Bhojpuri culture and appealed to the Poorvanchalis to vote for Mr. Kumar in the Bihar elections,” said Santosh Kumar of Maithili Mahasabha. “The event was meant for us but they ‘misused’ it for political gains.” Mr. Kejriwal felicitated 12 JD(U) MLAs as well.

It was for the first time that the Delhi government had organised an event for academicians and artists from Bihar in the Capital at such a large scale. “This is the only event organised to revive the Bhojpuri and Maithili culture. The previous governments never did anything,” said Sanjeev Jha, Burari MLA.

Upset with the Bihar Chief Minister and AAP convenor, a recipient of the award (wishing anonymity) said that political leaders used the opportunity to address a political rally. “We expected some announcements for the people working with the Bhojpuri and Maithili academies but all we heard was anti-Modi rhetoric.”

Some angry artists created ruckus outside the Malvankar Auditorium after the two leaders left and AAP MLA, Somnath Bharti, had to face their anger. Amar Nath Jha, a writer, said that the event was a joke. “Why did they organize the event? So that AAP can tell Poorvanchali’s to vote for Nitish Kumar. But they didn’t even once mention anything on the culture.”

Even the public, who had come to see performance of the artists, was left disappointed. Sangeeta, a resident of Ghazipur had taken off from school to attend the program. “The entire colony has come and all my friends missed school to be here.”

The buses parked outside on the Rafi Marg had banners of the constituencies on them, making it easy for the people. “We were asked to attend the program and didn’t know what it was about. All of us have come in a bus organised by our area MLA,” said Sanjay Kumar of Burari.

However, when Sharad Sharma Vyas, a renowned Bhojpuri singer, started performing, half the auditorium was empty as the leaders had left.

Both the leaders didn’t say a single line about the Bhojpuri culture and appealed to the Poorvanchalis to vote for Mr. Kumar in the Bihar elections