All India Radio office on Fraser Road in Patna. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Bhagalpur, Oct. 12: Akashvani has refused to conduct a three-day inter-state drama competition in Ghorghat in Munger, fearing rebel backlash.

Akashvani’s refusal to hold the competition at the last moment has irked various cultural bodies in Munger and Bhagalpur. The event was supposed to start on November 13. Ghorghat, located around 41km from the Munger district headquarters, is famous for manufacturing good quality lathis and the village is set to host a Lathi Mahotsav from November 12-14. The three-day programme would portray the significance of the sticks manufactured from Ghorghat and its rich history.

Drama competition and the lathi mahotsav are organised every year in the district.

“Since the Lathi Mahotsav would start here on November 12, we had decided to organise the drama competition at the same time. We had approached Akashvani, Bhagalpur, for the competition, but it has refused to conduct the same at the last moment on the pretext of Naxalite threat,” said Shatrughan Paswan, the secretary of Bariarpur unit of Indian People Theatre’s Association.

Several bodies have decided to start a mass protest against Akashvani’s decision to cancel the drama competition.

“Munger may be a safe zone for the rebels but according to our knowledge, the rebels have nothing to do with such cultural events,” said Ramanand Yadav, a native of Ghorghat. Shanker Ram, the programme officer of Akashvani, Bhagalpur, said: “The higher officials of the organisation decided not to organise the programme at places like Ghorghat, which is a Naxalite-affected area.”

However villagers and various cultural organisations are not very impressed with Akashvani’s decision.

“All the senior officials concerned at Munger district headquarters have given us the green light for the Lathi Mahotsav, then why did Akashvani need to cancel the inter-state drama competition?” a villager said.

Eminent persons, including chief minister Nitish Kumar, are expected to take part in the programme, the organisers of the programme said.

A villager said: “Mahatma Gandhi, who visited the village in 1934, was gifted with a Ghorghat ka lathi by the villagers here. Gandhiji urged the villagers not to supply the lathis to the British and appealed to them to supply them to the common men.”

A delegate from the village went to Delhi recently when Anna Hazare was on a hunger strike and gifted him a lathi manufactured here. “We handed over the lathi to Kiran Bedi, a close associate of Anna. The lathi was later handed over to the social activist,” said Basuki Paswan, a railway employee and a resident of the village.

What

Akashvani cancels three-day inter-state drama competition

When

Competition was scheduled to start on November 14

Where

Ghorghat village in Munger district

Why

Fears of Naxalite backlash