India Habitat Centre’s Samanvay focussed on the transnational presence of languages like Bangla, Bhojpuri, Chhattisgarhi, Konkani and how their cross-border journeys defined their new-age identity
Samanvay’s Day 4 began with a session on the love-hate relationship between poetry and the idea of nation. Hindi poet and critic Asad Zaidi, who runs Three Essays Collective, said that nationalism and poetry have had a history of hostility and chasm; and it is not only historical but also fundamental. He added that nationalism, for poetry, is something only in passing, something that is transient and can never be of permanent concern for it. Eminent poet from Nepal Benju Sharma chose to disagree with Zaidi and said that nation and poetry are inextricable and the poem cannot exist without the nation. She recounted her days of struggle in Nepal how she produced poetry of defiance and protested the overthrow of democracy and abuse of human rights in her country. She also said that she wrote poetry for the state and democracy and for the triumph of people. Noted Sri lankan poet Theepachelvan also read out some of his poems which were written in wake of the atrocities committed by the Sri lankan state against Tamils.
The next session My Body, My Text had India’s leading activists discussing issues concerning lGBT community and women. Medieval historian and gay rights activist Saleem Kidwai said that silence is something that he and other like-minded academics are very uncomfortable with. He said that it has been proved beyond contention that homosexuality is not a western import and it’s appalling to even conjecture that a human emotion needs to be transported. Tamil poet Salma read a few of her poem which had shaken Tamil literary establishment. Moderator Harish Iyer read out the renditions of his poems. Iyer also emphasised on the need to talk about sexuality and added ‘you become an activist the day you start asserting right over your body’. Human rights activist Simran Shaikh, who recently also appeared on the show Satyamev Jayate, said that her struggle taught her how to represent herself and her identity. She also asked the audience how many of them would give employment to transgenders.
In the session on Malayali, columnist KR Meera elaborated the challenges of translation that the Malayali literature, even literature of pan-Indian nature, faces. Malayali poet Anvar Ali valourised translators and said that translation requires as much mettle as writing original poetry. Bilingual writer and educationist Rizio Yohannan Raj moderated the session. In session filmmaker Surabhi Sharma shared that the sorrow of women in Bhojpuri folklore has been sung by men. An expert on dalit politics, Badrinarayan, said that poignance has been the leitmotif of Bhojpuri folk songs.
The session on Bangla revolved around the theme One language, Two Countries. Bangladeshi poet Syed Shamsul Haque said that the countries may be two but Bangla is certainly one. He said that people in his country have died for the love of the language and the prolonged periods of struggle have produced a different body of literature. Bangladeshi scholar Fakrul Islam stated that the students of University of Dhaka, where he is a professor, changed Bangla literature and especially after the 70s, the major poets that emerged were alumni of the varsity. He added that just like the literature produced in New York has a slant and different from than that produced in london, the bangla literature is different in India and Bangladesh. He also said that 30 years later we might be having a session on one language and two literatures. Poet and Sahitya Akademi awardee Subodh Sarkar said that slowly Kolkata is becoming less and less ‘Bengali’ and that there is a growing ethnic difference, religious tension and consequently linguistic difference.
He said that 30 years later we would be having a discussion on two languages and two countries. The session was moderated by writer and academic Koushiki Dasgupta.
The penultimate session was on Right to Information Act. RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj said that the law has been used by the poorest of the poor and India’s RTI act is one of the most progressive information acts in the world. The government had alleged that the law was being misused and the governance was being compromised because of the law. On a research done on 30,000 sample RTI applications collected from across the country, it was established that less than one per cent of the applications were frivolously registered and the maximum applications were genuine filed by people below poverty line.
Anjali also said that the government only provides information under compulsion of the law but there is no spirit of transparency and the political will and mindset is clearly obstructive. The government has not appointed the Information Commissioners in the states of Assam and Manipur and for the first time the Information Commission is without a chief information commissioner since the last commissioner retired.