A procession in Gangtok to celebrate Bhanu Jayanti. Picture by Karchoong Diyali

July 13: Residents of Darjeeling and Sikkim today celebrated the birth anniversary of Nepali poet Bhanu Bhakta, honouring three Nepali writers in Darjeeling.

Casting aside their differences, more than 1,500 people gathered at the Community Hall in Geyzing to celebrate the 189th birth anniversary of the poet.

Geyzing was in the news recently because of a deadlock, between the Gorkha Apex Committee (GAC) and the Pemayangtse Monastery monks, over the installation of the poet’s statue.

Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling, who scored a victory of sorts by ending the unrest and calling for communal harmony on the poet’s birthday, presided over today’s programme as chief guest.

Welfare minister O.T. Lepcha, Speaker Kalawati Subba and Sangha legislator Palden Lachungpa also attended the function.

Taking the opportunity to dispel the controversies surrounding the installation of the statue in the Geyzing bazar area, Chamling announced that the disputed land on which the GAC had proposed to set up the statue, belonged to the government.

The monks of the Pemayangtse Monastery had earlier opposed the committee’s move claiming that the land belonged to them.

In what was seen as a step towards restoring normalcy, Chamling also said the tallest statue of the poet would be built in Geyzing.

A museum and an academic centre for Nepali art and literature would also be built, he added. He also appealed to the people to “beware of the elements bent upon bringing disharmony to achieve personal ends”.

Though all attention was focussed on the Geyzing celebrations, rallies and processions were also taken out in Gangtok to commemorate the occasion. Celebrations were also held in Kalimpong and Darjeeling.

Felicitations, introspection and the call for peace marked the Nepali Sahitya Sammelan programme in the hill town where literateurs were felicitated with the Diyalo Puraskar for their contribution to Nepali literature.

The sammelan, which was founded in 1924, awarded Sanjay Bist, a writer, for his story Bartaman. Binod Akshrumali received the award for the novel Giddehapar ko Geet (Song of Giddehapar). Thiruprasad Nepal, a writer from Namchi, was awarded for his works on another writer, Saju Lama.

The sammelan also felicitated Sarwar Agarawal for his contribution to literature through the publication of Nepali works and Laxman Shrimall, a playwright.

The award included a citation, a shawl, a medal and Rs 1,500.

Speaking at the occasion, Bist appealed to the people to embrace peace. “All attempts by a few to sow the seeds of disunity within the Nepali community should be thwarted.”

The writer rued the fact that the younger generation did not attach importance to Nepali literature and rarely read literary works. The changing trend, he said, did not augur well for the language which had much to offer. “Apart from the writers like I.B. Rai, Nepal does not recognise any of the contemporary writers and this shows in the attitude of the people of Nepal towards the writers of this place.” Calling for a change in the attitude, Bist urged the sammelan to groom writers under its fold.

Speaking on the same lines, Shrimall stressed the need to “forge ties among the writers from Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong and Sikkim, to work for Nepali Sahitya”.