MP Sunil Mahto inaugurates the Bhojpuri Sammelan at Gopal Maidan. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Feb. 4: Bhojpuri is set to make its presence felt far and wide.

A plethora of eminent scholars and artistes from the Bihari community, who assembled at Gopal Maidan in Bistupur, pledged to make the language more strong and relevant in the country.

The International Bhojpuri Maha Sammelan was organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Bhojpuri Vikas Manch (AIBVM) to celebrate the cabinet clearance of including the language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and 150th birth anniversary of Vir Kunwar Singh.

Though actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha and popular Bhojpuri singer Manoj Tiwari could not make it to venue, those present advocated the need to make the language relevant.

“It is an honour that Bhojpuri is going to be shortly included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution but we should not forget that the language is fast losing its relevance,” one of the speakers said.

Three Bhojpuri scholars Satyadev Ojha, Bachchan Pathak Salil and Arvind Vidrohi were also felicitated on the occasion.

Vidrohi, an acclaimed humourist, shed light on the need to give a push to the language. “It is a challenge for all of us. We should work united on a single platform to help Bhojpuri regain its edge,” he said.

Mohammad Irshad Ahmed from Oman, who has dedicated a lot of time for the upliftment of the language, was also present at the function.

A pledge was also taken to set up a social body in the steel city for the downtrodden. “One of our brethren is doing a lot for the downtrodden in Holland. We should begin a similar effort in Jamshedpur,” said B.N. Tiwary, chief of AIBVM.

Artistes, film producers and directors, folk singers from Bihar and Jharkhand, including famous Bhojpuri exponent Bharat Sharma Vyas, Kalpana Patwari, Pawan Singh and Radheyshyam Rasiya, among others graced the occasion. City MP Sunil Mahto, who was also present assured to donate a sum of Rs 1 lakh to the AIBVM.