Dainik Jagaran 'Samvadi' kickstarts on a high note

The fifth edition of  Dainik Jagaran “Samvadi” was inaugurated today by lighting the lamp jointly by famous filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, renowned classical dancer Sonal Mansingh and Jagaran Prakashan Limited's director Sunil Gupta at Sangeet  Natak Academy, Lucknow. In addition to literature sessions in the celebration of expression, there will be sessions on politics, music, food, newsroom drama, religion, patriotism, etc. There will also be open discussions on ego issues like #Metoo along with environment etc.

Speaking on the occasion, Sunil Gupta, Director, Jagaran Prakashan Limited said, "There are many literature festivals every year in our country and if Smavadi is special and different from others it is because of its content and presentation. So next three days from today onwards you will get the opportunity to listen to some of the big names from various different fields. You will also get the chance to ask them questions.”

On the first day in the opening session 'Lucknow Mera Lucknow', filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, Wilayat Jafari talked with Atma Prakash Mishra. Talking on the issue of Lucknow Muzaffar Ali said that “Lucknow is a pain and even a problem if you do not have any problems then you are not from Lucknow. Lucknow is you and us. How the future will be, we need to decide. Ganga Jamuni Tahzeeb is the soul of India and we should preserve it”

Wilayat Jafari said “Lucknow is a place where a hanuman temple is built by a Muslim and an Imambara is built by a Hindu and these are the kind of values that we have got from our ancestors. It will not be so easy to eradicate these values and to preserve them will not be a problem as these values are in our souls”

Second session of the day was ‘Sanskar and Sanskrati’ by Sonal Mansingh and moderated by Ashotosh Shukla where she talked on the various aspects of Indian culture. Talking on the issue she said” Tradition is culture and traditions make the culture, due to the western influence today we have difficulty in understanding our own culture. You can follow the western culture, but should also follow your own culture. If we cannot respect our own culture then how can we hope that others will respect our culture?

In Session ‘Aap Ladte kyon ho’ there were party spokespersons Shazia Ilmi from BJP, Anurag Bhadauriya from SP and Dwijendra Patel from the Congress. During the session they talked about truth or war during the Newsroom debates, is it just TRP or have any meaningful effect? Session was moderated by Ananta Vijay.

Talking on the issue Shazia Ilmi said “The trend of TV anchors screaming or the spokespersons shouting during TV debate had already existed even before the Anna Hazare Movement and today it has becomes an important tool for TV channels to get TRPs and it is selling too”

Dwijendra Patel said “Accountability in TV debate is not only for party spokesperson but also to TV anchor. Anchor always plays an important role in the TV debate. IT is up to them as to where or in which direction they are taking the debate.

Keeping his opinion Anurag Bhadauriya said “When the TV anchor gives more importance to a powerful party spokesperson then the opposition spokespersons start screaming to keep their point of view. Therefore, the TV anchor also has the obligation to give all the present spokespersons full opportunity to speak and keep their point.

The process of globalization has given a tremendous challenge to nationalism. The session ‘Rashtrawad Aur Deshbhakti ka Chakravyuh’ witnessed a fiery debate between the writers of the country, clarifying the duality between the wave of patriotism and nationalism, Dr Nand Kishore Pandey, Hitesh Shankar and Hitendra Patel were in favour of the statement with moderator Anil Pandey in the opposition.

Hitendra Patel said, "Nowadays, it is very difficult to talk about nation and nationalism, because those who have become the officials of nationalism themselves do not know what the actual   difference between nationalism and patriotism is. It seems like nationalism can only be rationalized by showing power”.  He further argued on the nationalism by targeting Prime Minister Narender Modi saying that “Modi needs to understand that Modi's opposition is also necessary, no leader has suffered more opposition than Nehru in this country. Modi is a big leader and I do not think he will have any problem with the opposition.

Manifesting his views on nationalism Hitesh Shankar said that "In today's era, nationalism needs to be influenced. Nationalism should not only be discussed, but a correct conclusion should also be found.”

Dr. Nand Kishor Pandey said, "The concept of the nationalism is very old and the people living with it are nationalists. In this country, the river Ganga, the Cows, the Himalayas and the culture of this country depicts nationalism".

The session ‘Sangeet ke ache din’ featured Yatindra Mishra in conversation with folk singer Malini Awasthi and classical singer Vidya Shah. Speaking on the subject Vidya Shah said, 'I sing and there are many who listen to me, so I can say that the “Ache din” of classical music are going on. While folk singer Malini Awasthi  in her opinion said "The “Achhe Din” of every disciple will embark as soon as he/she gets a good teacher and master who serves as a guide . At the same time, there are “Ache din” of music too, great number of people are learning and singing classical music.”

‘Jallianwala Bagh: Dard ke sau saal’: This session was dedicated to the centenary of Jallianwala Bagh and its martyrs. Giriraj Kiradoo talked about his book Jallianwala Bagh 1919 with Kishwar Desai the chairperson of The Art and Culture Heritage Trust who made the country's first partition museum in Amritsar. They discussed how Avinash’s research found many important facts about this genocide. Kishvar Desai told that he had a desire to write a book and research on Jallianwala Bagh tragedy when he came to know where the country's first partition museum was built is the same Town Hall which was burnt 100 years ago. The research started from there and the book has depicted the harsh reality to the people. This book exposes some new pages of the massacre. When the British arrested two prominent leaders of Punjab, a Hindu and a Muslim, on April 13, 1919, men and children gathered for the release of both the people in this town hall, they did not know that Journal Dyer will do such a catastrophic act. On the order of the journal, the bullets were fired on the crowd gathered and in the massacre, most people were shot on the backs, feet and thighs as all the people were running to save lives.

“Theater literary session dealt with theater concerned with literature and featured Ram Ji Bali in conversation with   Vaman Kendra, Surya Mohan Kulshreshth and Sanjay Upadhyay.

Vaman Kendra, while keeping his views on the association of literature and theater, said that “theater without the literature is not possible. Whatever drama we do, whether it is based on a story, poetry or novel, it should have the ability to give Theatricalism, some meaning, some thoughts. It is important to reach out to some emotional people and literature helps us in doing so.

Sanjay Upadhyay said, “Literature in Theater is not a pure literature because theater is an artistic art. There are many art forms of theatre and drama is composed by their combination.

Surya Mohan Kulkshreshth said, "Surely literature is an integral part of theater, but theater is not literature. He further said that the written drama is an incomplete literature because there are plenty of gaffes in it, which is filled by the colourists'.

The last session of the first day was concluded by Himanshu Bajpai and Rajni Chandiwal with ‘Dastangoi: Dastaan Chandrakanta ki’

Himanshu Bajpayee along with Rajini of Delhi narrated Chandrakanta's story. The story based on Babul Devkinandan Khatri's classical novel Chandrakanta, it was enjoyed and loved by every listener. Before starting Dastan, Himanshu Bajpayee remembered his partner Dastanga Late Ankit Chadha in particular. This Dastan was based on the love story of Prince Virendra Singh of Nagar and Princess Chandrakanta of Vijaygarh. Rajkumar Virendra Singh and Chandrakanta are deeply troubled by the separation from each other.