EMPHASIS ON DEVELOPING CREATIVE RESISTANCE BY WRITERS AND CULTURAL ACTIVISTS

EMPHASIS ON DEVELOPING CREATIVE RESISTANCE BY WRITERS AND CULTURAL ACTIVISTS

2-OCT-ENG 3

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA-------------------------The second district conference of the Jan Sanskriti Manch (Jasam), Bhojpur, concluded successfully at the local Anant Kumar Singh Auditorium (Red Cross Society Auditorium). The venue was named in honor of the late theatre artist Ravi Ranjan Rakesh.

Addressing the conference as the keynote speaker, Prof. Gopal Pradhan from Delhi spoke earnestly on the topic, "Challenges of Education, Culture, and Expression." He stated that the ruling class is imposing its own culture upon the people's culture of India. The ruling class is launching attacks using new tools of exploitation and is actively striving to perpetuate caste-based social discrimination, gender bias, and racial discrimination. Conspiracies are being hatched to deprive Dalits, the backward classes, and the poor of education by brazenly handing over the education sector to private interests. The ruling class is reaping immense benefits from the backwardness of the masses. Democracy is being strangled by suppressing every voice raised against such conditions. In this context, it is essential to develop creative resistance; writers and artists must unite and leverage their artistic expression to fight against this.

During the inaugural session, Prof. Mrityunjay Singh, Prof. Ravindranath Rai, and Dr. Lakshmi Kumari (representing Prales); poet Rajaram Priyadarshi (representing Jales); fiction writer Suresh Kantak (representing Jasam); and Prof. Balraj Thakur (representing the Akhil Bharatiya Hindi Sahitya Sammelan) addressed the gathering and congratulated everyone on the conference's success. At the outset, Jitendra Kumar, President of Jasam Bhojpur, welcomed the visiting guests and members. In the second session, Suresh Kantak’s new collection of Hindi short stories, *Mrityudwar Ke Pahrue*, and two collections of poems and songs by Bhojpuri poet-lyricist Asif Rohtasvi—titled *Kabir Na Bhayin Ta Ka* and *Geet Kaise Gungunayin*—were released. Speaking on Suresh Kantak’s short story collection, Prof. Mrityunjay Singh shared his views on book culture and the current situation. He remarked that mere writing cannot bring about cultural change unless the work is read as a personal necessity. On this occasion, poet-critic Jitendra Kumar shared his thoughts on the newly released books by Asif Rohtasvi. Sudhir Suman moderated this session.

During the organizational session, JASM State Secretary Deepak Sinha was present as an observer. Accompanying the Secretary were Lalit Vijay from Begusarai and Punit Pathak from JASM Patna. A new committee was formed under their supervision. Poet-critic Jitendra Kumar and poet Suman Kumar Singh were entrusted with the responsibilities of President and Secretary, respectively, once again. A new 33-member team was constituted for JASM Bhojpur, incorporating some new members as well. There are high expectations from this team.

Poets Arun Sheetansh, Om Prakash Mishra, and Janardan Mishra, along with Prof. […], attended the conference. Ayodhya Prasad Upadhyay, storyteller Akhilesh Kumar, theatre artist Sunil Sarin, Ishtiyaq, Shamshad Prem, Dhananjay Singh, Amit Mehta, Suryaprakash, Alok, Vikrant, Dhananjay Katkera, Siddhnath Sagar, Ramyash Avikal, Raviprakash Suraj, Ashutosh Pandey, Sunil Srivastava, Krishna Kumar Nirmohi, Jitendra Vidrohi, Sunil Chaudhary, Arun Prasad, Anil Verma, Kamal Kishore, Sanjay Kumar, Satyadev Kumar, Randhir Rana, CPI(ML) District Secretary Abhyuday, CPI(ML) leader Kyamuddin, Bablu Gupta, former MLA Shivprakash Ranjan, Harinath Ram, Chandan, Brijnandan-ji, Vimal Yadav, employees' leader Yadunandan Chaudhary, Prof. Nathuni Pandey, Vijay Mehta, Nilesh Kumar, and others were present.

Finally, theatre artist Raju Ranjan, Nirmohi-ji, Dhananjay Singh, and their associates concluded the conference with people's songs.

Paintings by Rakesh Kumar Diwakar and posters featuring poems by poets from Bhojpur were displayed in the conference hall.