To mark the beginning of the birth centenary year of Nagarjun, the Jankavi (People's Poet) of Hindi, Jan Sanskriti Manch organised several events in his memory.
The third State Conference of JSM's Bihar unit, held in Samastipur on 25 June with the theme 'Against the culture of loot and lies, for creativity and struggle', centred around Nagarjun. On this occasion JSM Bihar's magazine 'Samkaleen Chunauti' was launched and its inaugural issue, dedicated to Nagarjun, was released by JSM National General Secretary Pranay Krishna.
On 26 June, a large delegation of cultural activists, writers and poets travelled from Samastipur via Darbhanga to Nagarjun's birthplace Tarauni in a cultural journey the 'Nagarjun Janmasthali Yatra.’
At Darbhanga, a Seminar was held on 'People's Movements and Poetry' by the Nagarjun Birth Centenary Celebrations Committee, at the Hall of the Music and Drama department of the Lalit Narayan Mishra University. Addressing the Seminar, Ramji Rai, editor-in-chief of Samkaleen Janmat, said that feudal and communal blood flows in the veins of India's democracy, and Nagarjun was an uncompromising critic of this democracy. Closely associated with the peasant movement in India, he supported the 1974 movement against autocracy and was jailed for defying the Emergency. Subsequently he was disillusioned with the leadership of the 1974 movement of Jaiprakash Narayan (JP), but his commitment to people's movements was unstoppable. His epic poem 'Harijan Gatha' indicates the birth of a new revolutionary communist movement, while in his poem 'Bhojpur', he finds his dream of revolution becoming a reality in the flaming fields of Bihar, where the CPI(ML) movement was making its mark.
Pranay Krishna said Nagarjun and others were arrested under the MISA during Emergency; today the list of draconian laws in our country grows ever longer. In a sense the Emergency never ended it continues undeclared even today, yet people's resistance continues.
Prof. Rajendra Kumar, President of JSM, Uttar Pradesh, Ramnihaal Gunjan, President, JSM Bihar, Nagarjun's eldest son Shobhakantji, Surendra Prasad 'Suman', editor of JSM Bihar's magazine Samkaleen Chunauti, journalist-poet Agnipushp also addressed the Seminar. On this occasion, a book on Nagarjun edited by Prof. Arun Kumar and Kamlanand Jha, Hoti Bas Ankhen hi Ankhen, was released by Prof. Rajendra Kumar. A statue of Baba Nagarjun sculpted by Rajesh Kumar was unveiled by Pranay Krishna. Delivering an address of thanks at the conclusion of the Seminar, CPI(ML)'s Mithilanchal in-charge, Central Committee Member Comrade Dhirendra Jha said that Nagarjun's writings and his personality will always be a source of strength and inspiration for the struggling peasants and poor of Bihar and especially of the Mithila region.
In the evening, a team of cultural activists reached Nagarjun's ancestral village, Tarauni, where they were greeted warmly by the villagers. A cultural programme took place which was enthusiastically attended by local people including a large number of women and children. JSM Begusarai's theatre group 'Rangnayak' presented a play based on 'Harijan Gatha' and 'Bhojpur.' Bhojpuri poet Krishna Kumar 'Nirmohi' sang revolutionary compositions. Santosh Jha, Samta Rai, D P Soni, Raju and Runjhun sang songs by Gorakh Pandey, Maheshwar, Vijendra Anil and Ramakant Dwivedi 'Ramta.' Arun Anjana from Bhagalpur and K S K Bharti from Purnea also sang their own compositions. Pranay Krishna and Comrade Ramji Rai addressed the people of Tarauni, telling them that Nagarjun deeply loved his homeland Mithila but also felt very deeply its feudal injustices. The struggle against those injustices was ongoing even today and would continue till a world free from injustice as dreamed by Nagarjun was brought into being.
The Nagarjun Birth Centenary Celebrations launched on these occasions will continue through the coming year and will culminate in Bhojpur next year.
