Lucknow, April 5: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday inaugurated the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Bhartendu Natya Academy, marking its 50th anniversary. On this occasion, the Chief Minister inaugurated the renovation work of the entire building and two auditoriums of the Bhartendu Natya Academy.
In addition, the Chief Minister honored artists and alumni and released the book “Rangmath.” The Chief Minister also watched a theatrical presentation of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s novel “Anandmath.”
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that theatre is a mirror of society and sets its direction. The stage is where emotions become words, and those words become acting. This acting, by creating public awareness, gives direction to society.
Yogi Adityanath said that the Ramayana and Mahabharata are part of our cultural flow, and every Indian family made them a part of their lives. Bharatendu Harishchandra promoted cultural nationalism through plays. He championed the cause of language, demonstrating the courage to speak and act truthfully through his plays. His contributions to preserving India’s eternal culture, to the mother tongue, to Hindi, and to Khariboli are incomparable.
Yogi Adityanath said that to avoid affecting the vote bank, the names of Maharaja Suheldev, Maharaja Bijli Pasi, and Rani Lakshmibai were not mentioned. He said that we refrained from honoring our heroes. This was why mafia figures were portrayed as heroes in our institutions. The previous government was weak. Salar Masood was a mafia. Maharaja Suheldev killed a foreign invader. After a thousand years, we were able to build a grand memorial to Maharaja Suheldev. Attacks on culture are not tolerated. Villains who trampled India’s culture should not be honored.
The Chief Minister said that Uttar Pradesh has been very rich in singing, playing instruments and dancing. Work should be done to promote folk art. Short plays should be made about heroes and heroines like Maharaja Suheldev, Maharaja Bijli Pasi, Maharani Laxmibai. Plays related to patriotism should be staged in front of children in schools. The Culture Department should come forward for this.
Before this, Dr Rati Shankar Tripathi, President of Bhartendu Natya Academy, welcomed the Chief Minister by presenting him with a shawl and a memento.
Kiran Bisaria, Lakhimpur Kheri, Padmashree RAM Gopal Bajaj, New Delhi, Padmashree Dr Anil Rastogi, Lucknow, Prof. Ajay Malkani, Ranchi, Ravishankar Khare, Gorakhpur, Chitra Mohan, Prayagraj, Manju Brijnandan Sharma, Saharanpur, Munish Sappal, Mumbai, Dr Devendra Kumar Tripathi, Prayagraj, Dr Ajit Saigal, Varanasi, Rakesh Nigam, Lucknow, Pramod Singh Rana, Agra, Alok Pandey, Shahjahanpur, Kushal Dubey, Jaunpur, Rakesh Pandey, Bhadohi
Prominently present on the occasion were Culture Minister Jaiveer Singh, Lucknow Mayor Sushma Kharkwal, Bhatkhande University Vice Chancellor Prof Mandavi Singh, BJP Rajya Sabha member Dr Dinesh Sharma, and MLA Yogesh Shukla.