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| In a fix: The Chamber Bhavan in Bistupur |
Laughter is priceless, but Rs 2.15 crore of controversy is no laughing matter.
The Rajya Sabha cash-stash row involving business heavyweight and Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Raj Kumar Agrawal has put a huge question mark over its upcoming hasya kavi sammelan on April 10.
Frankly, no one dares speculate if Agrawal, the main patron, is in a mood to chuckle at comic poems or limericks.
He is under the income tax scanner after bags with Rs 2.15 crore in cash — allegedly for horse-trading during Rajya Sabha polls — were seized from a luxury vehicle near Ranchi on March 30.
“The event was scheduled at Tata Auditorium on April 10. Acclaimed poets and humorists have been invited. But the organiser SCCI is believed to be having a rethink on the matter,” said an insider.
Chamber functionaries, off the record, said they didn’t want their president to face further embarrassment with a hasya kavi sammelan as his image had taken a beating.
After all, it is not a “ghazal nite”. It is an exercise in humour, which does not spare anyone.
“It’s a risk holding the sammelan as poet-humorists will not spare politicians. Witty humour comprises jabs and digs on corruption and black money,” one of the members said.
Agrawal himself went hammer and tongs against politicians and corruption. But that was before the ‘minor matter’ of the Rs 2.15 crore booty.
The office-bearers of the trade outfit, who were enthusiastic about the sammelan and had held the first meeting on March 20 to discuss the probable dates of the event, names of participating poets and invitees, among others, are now crestfallen.
So far, the venue has been fixed but invitation cards have not yet been printed.
Chamber vice-president Suresh Sonthalia, however, rallied his wits for an inspired face-saver.
“We have fixed the hasya kavi sammelan at Tata Auditorium on April 10. But three poets have not given their consent, so the function may be postponed,” he told The Telegraph.
Rather than give this reporter any time to read between the lines, he hurried on to add: “Note the fact that I said the event may be postponed, not cancelled. Actually, we wanted to hold our Holi Milan in a much bigger way this time. We used to host it at Chamber Bhavan in Bistupur with a gathering of 200 members. The Tata Auditorium will allow all Chamber members, around 1,250, to attend,” he said.
Why was the venue fixed before the poets gave their consent?
Sonthalia, being a wise man, knew discretion was the better part of wit or valour. He pretended not to hear.
