Mangaluru to host lit festival on "Idea of Bharat" from Nov 3
Mangaluru, Oct 30: A literary festival on the'Idea of Bharat, christened 'Mangaluru Lit Fest 2018', will be organised in the city from November 3 to 6.
The festival is an attempt to showcase the ancient Indian wisdom of peace, brotherhood and universal well-being through intellectual discourse by the finest literary minds from across the country, the convenor of the event Sriraj Gudi told reporters here Tuesday.
The festival intends to provide a platform for intellectual deliberations for monologues, panel discussions, conversations, book reviews, symposiums and book exhibition on'The Idea of Bharat,' Gudi said.
Saraswati Samman awardee Padmasree S L Byrappa willbe felicitated with the lifetime achievement award during the festival for his immense contribution towards literature, he said.
The patrons of the festival are Nitte Education Trust chairman N Vinaya Hegde, Taranga weekly executive editor Sandhya Pai and Rajeev Chandrashekhar, MP.
The Lit Fest aims to highlight the literary andcultural diversity of Mangaluru, which is blessed with vibrant multi-cultural ethos with very colourful annual festivities including Kambala, Kola and Yakshagana, Gudi said.
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SGPC writes to Mann, seeks ban on 'Emergency' in Punjab a day before release
Amritsar, Jan 16 (PTI): The SGPC on Thursday wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, seeking a ban on the release of Kangana Ranaut's movie 'Emergency' saying it "tarnishes" the image of Sikhs and "misrepresents" history.
Actor and BJP MP Ranaut's 'Emergency' is slated to release in cinemas on January 17.
In the letter to Mann, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Harjinder Singh Dhami expressed strong objection to Ranaut's film.
Dhami said that if the film is released in Punjab, it will spark "outrage and anger" in the Sikh community and therefore it is the responsibility of the government to ban its release in the state.
The SGPC, an apex gurdwara body, had earlier also protested the film.
"It has come to our attention that the movie 'Emergency' produced by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut is going to be released on 17th January 2025 in cinemas in different cities of Punjab and the tickets have also started to be booked," its letter to Mann read.
Dhami said the SGPC had also protested the release of the movie in a letter to the Punjab Chief Secretary on November 14 last year.
"But it is sad that the Punjab government has not taken any step till now. If this film is released on January 17, 2025, then it is natural to create outrage and anger in the Sikh world," the current letter read.
Dhami said the SGPC will submit a letter also to all the deputy commissioners in Punjab, seeking a ban on the film in the state.
The SGPC denounced the "character assassination" of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Khalistani militant killed in 1984 in a military operation.
"If this film is released in Punjab, we will be forced to strongly oppose it at the state level," Dhami said.
In August last year, the SGPC sent a legal notice to the producers of the 'Emergency' film, alleging that it "misrepresented" the character and history of Sikhs, and asked them to remove the objectionable scenes depicting "anti-Sikh" sentiments.
In the notice, the producers of the film, including Kangana Ranaut, were asked to remove the trailer released on August 14 from all public and social media platforms and tender a written apology to the Sikh community.
The SGPC objected to film writing separate letters to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification.
