BJP accuses Nitish Kumar of cultural policing; Bihar Govt hits back
The Hindu
The controversy erupted after Anamika Jain Amber, a poet from Uttar Pradesh, posted a video on social media alleging that her permission to recite poetry was "withdrawn at the eleventh hour by the administration"
The Bihar BJP on November 26 accused the Nitish Kumar Government of "cultural policing" by preventing those opposed to its political ideology from performing on the stage in the State.
State BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand in a statement claimed that Anamika Jain Amber, a poet from Uttar Pradesh, was "stopped" from reciting her verses at the famed Sonepur Mela.
The charge was refuted by the State Art and Culture Minister Jitendra Kumar Rai, who pointed out that Ms. Amber's name had never figured among those scheduled to present cultural programs at the fair.
The controversy erupted after Ms. Amber, known for her hagiographies of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, posted a video on social media alleging that her permission to recite poetry was "withdrawn at the eleventh hour by the administration".
"I am so sad at having been deprived of a chance to perform in the land of Ramdhari Singh Dinkar," she said.
Ms. Amber claimed that she had shot a video of herself speaking on the denial of permission to her at the Patna airport while awaiting her return flight to Delhi.
"Even the district administration officials looked mortified when they told me about the orders from above to stop me," claimed Ms. Amber.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.