Opening ceremony featuring controversial poet Srijato vandalised in Silchar

Far left poet Srijato Banerjee was invited as the guest of honour in the launch event of “Esho Boli”, a cultural organisation in Silchar. West Bengal based Srijato has been in the controversy for quite some time now because of his anti-hindu poems which often insults Hindu Gods with derogatory stanzas and hurts religious sentiments. Since the time it was announced that Srijato would grace the event as chief guest the right wing groups have been revolting against this event. In fact today a memorandum was submitted to the the Deputy Commissioner requesting the administration to cancel the permission to host this event.

However the organisers went on as planned and the event started on time. About 150 attendees consisting of people from every sphere of life spread across different age groups and genders gathered primarily to witness Srijato’s elocution. Few individuals were felicitated by the organisers too. Suddenly few people entered the hall with intention of asking questions to the chief guest. As per people inside they took the microphone and started asking questions in a “mannerless way” which was protested by the attendees, “The editor of Dainik Jugashanka was the first one to stand up and protest and later others joined in too,” that is how it all started.

As per latest information about 70 people are locked inside the hall including chief guest Srijato, “We have women and aged people with us here, we can hear slogans outside and therefore we feel very insecure of stepping out,” says a man currently inside the hall. Additional SP Rakesh Reddy reached the spot with force and has been trying to broker peace by communicating with both organisers and protestors. The protestors are demanding a public apology from the organisers as they allege one of the organisers “insulted someone asking legitimate questions” by using abusive terms like “idiot”. When IPS Reddy went to speak to the organisers they said its the opposite and the outsiders barged in and started creating a ruckus.

About 250 protestors are still outside raising slogans “Jai Shri Ram”, “TMC Dalal Srijato Hai Hai”, however they are not carrying any banner and therefore it is yet to be determined if they belong to any particular organisation. Additional SP Reddy said if any has posted anything on Facebook sitting in Kolkata it does not come under Cachar administration’s jurisdiction but the ruckus created here in Silchar is a matter of law and order. He also tried to explain that this is a close door event and the organisers have taken all necessary permissions to host it and invited whoever they wanted to.

Srijato won Ananda Puraskar for his poetry “উড়ন্ত সব জোকার” (All Flying Jokers) in 2004 and then a Filmfare East – best lyricist for “Balir Sohor” song from “Mishawr Rawhoshyo”. “An episode like this demeans Silchar,” said a senior journalist from the valley.