Janvadi Lekhak Sangh Ninth Conference (Dhanbad)

The Ninth Conference of Janwadi Lekhak Sangh was held at Dhanbad on 27th January 2018 in the local New Town Hall. It was given a name,  ‘Doodh Nath Singh Nagar’ This Conference was dedicated to the memory of ‘Muktibodh and Trilochan centenary’. It was first conducted by MMP Singh, General Secretary who handed over the responsibility to Sanjeev Kumar, joint Gen.Secretary.

The inaugural address was delivered by Siddharth Varadajan, the Editor of The Wire. The main theme of the conference was : ‘Arena of culture, challenges and struggle.’ Varadarajan spoke on the menace of the agenda of the RSS. He said that whatever values were adopted by Indians in glorious past of India are being trampled upon by the RSS. He ended his speech by suggesting to the writers to be fearless, to adopt new methods of communication and get united to safeguard the right of free expression.

The chief guest was Raosaheb Kasbe who spoke on the deteriorating condition of politics and society. He too critcised  the RSS for its hidden agenda of establishing in India the Hindu Rashtra.  The other speakers on the theme of Conference were Mahadev topo, Sudhanva Deshpande, Subhadra Chanana, Suhail Hashmi and Subhashini Ali. The inaugural session concluded with the speech of Chanchal Chauhan, member Presidium.

On January 28 the General Secretary authorized Sanjeev Kumar to present the Centre’s Report. It was discussed by the conference and adopted. The state secretaries too presented their reports.

After that organizational session was held. The last item of the agenda was organisational election. A new Executive Committee and Central Council was duly elected. The conference passed some resolutions, e.g. on the defense of Urdu, against attacks on Dalits, women, adivasi and minorities and one against attacks on the freedom of expression.

For full report in Hindi please click here

Janvadi Lekhak Sangh Eighth Conference (Allahabad)

The Janvadi Lekhak Sangh (JLS) held its eighth national conference at Allahabad, on February 14 and 15, with the message that it would do all it can to unite the writers, artists and other cultural workers with the broad democratic movement in order to meet the growing threat of communal fascism in the country. On the first day of the conference, a Meet on Composite Culture was held in an effort to bring on to one platform various groups of democratic minded writers and cultural workers as well as independent writers and other intellectuals against the communal threat. The day long discussion eventually culminated in the issuance of a unanimous Allahabad Declaration.

ON COMPOSITE CULTURE

While the Allahabad Declaration underlined the need of “a big, new and bold initiative” in order to met the communal fascist threat today, it also assured that the democratic minded writers, artists and other cultural workers, who are true inheritors of the fertile secular socio-cultural heritage of this country and of the rich humane, democratic and progressive literary tradition of the Indian renaissance, would effectively discharge their role in the current situation.

The delegates session of the JLS took place on February 15, in an attempt to systematise the understanding about the current situation and about the direction in which to move. More than two hundred writer delegates from various parts of the country attended this session. At the end of the deliberations, the session adopted the main report presented by the general secretary and elected a new, 141 member national council, with some vacancies. In its first meeting, then, the council elected a 38 member national executive committee (with one vacancy). The team will be led by 24 office bearers with Doodhnath Singh as president, Zuber Razvi as acting president and Murali Manohar Prasad Singh as general secretary. While Sanjeev Kumar is the deputy general secretary, Javarimal Parakh is the treasurer.

There could not have been a better place than Allahabad, a historic city noted for its rich culture, for the JLS conference and the accompanying meet on composite culture. Ziaul-Haque, a veteran communist intellectual, specifically underlined the city’s heritage of Ganga-Jamni culture, while welcoming the delegates, invitees and speakers at the beginning of the composite cultural meet. The Senate auditorium was full to its capacity and overflowing on this occasion, as a large number of writers and artists from around Allahabad, apart from the delegates, had come to attend the meet on composite culture. While making the aim of this meet clear, Murali Manohar Prasad Singh, who conducted the first session of the meet, expressed the hope that, through this meet, Allahabad would play the same role as was played by Paris in uniting the writers, artists and other cultural workers of Europe against fascism during the 1930s.

A presidium based on Shekhar Joshi, Zuber Razvi, Aqeel Rizvi and Ramesh Kuntal Megh presided over the first session of the meet which renowned economist and Marxist theoretician Prabhat Patnaik and human rights activist Teesta Setalvad addressed. The dais of the conference was named after Chandrabali Singh, Mohd Hasan and Shiv Kumar Mishra, illustrious leaders of the JLS who departed since the last JLS conference in Dhanbad, while the main gate was reminding the audience and the common people of late Markandeya, a renowned writer of Allahabad and a leader of the JLS.

The Seventh National Conference was organised on November, 2-4, 2007 at Digwadih, Dhanbad. The Conference was inaugurated by Prof. Prabhat Patnaik, an economist of international repute. The Chief guest was P. Sainath, an eminent journalist. A National Seminar on ‘ The Hegemony of International Finance Capital and the Cultural resistance to it’ was also organised on the second day of the Conference. Apart from cultural programmes such as Kavi sammelan and Mushaira, exhibition of paintings etc. were also organised. As usual the elections of the Central Council and Central Executive including office bearers were also held at the end of three-day Conference.

The Sixth National Conference was organised at Patna on September 12-14, 2003. The Conference was inaugurated by Gurdayal Singh, an eminent Punjabi novelist. The chairperson of the reception committee was Prof. R.S. Sharma, a historian of international repute. The chief guest on the occasion was Habib Tanveer, a well-known theatre and film celebrity. A National Seminar on the “Cultural Milieu and the Challenges of Communal Fascism” was organised on that occasion. A new Central Council and Executive Committee including office bearers were also elected at the organisational session.

The Fifth National Conference was held on February 1-3, 1997 at Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata. The Chairman of the Reception Committee was Jyoti Basu, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal. Prof. Aijaz Ahmad, a writer of international repute, delivered the inaugural address. The chief guest at the Conference was Prof. Irfan Habib, a well-known historian. The Conference debated the causes of the cultural and ideological stagnation in the Hindi speaking states and regions in India where communal ideologies and backward ideas easily gained ground. The Conference elected its new Central Council as per the provisions in the Constitution of the Association and the Council elected the new Executive committee including its office bearers.

The Fourth National Conference of the organisation was held in October 1992 at Jaipur. There, a big rally was organised against the communal forces and Hindu fascist organisations such as the RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena that threatened with their narrow parochial and divisive mind set the minority communities in India. The Conference discussed various issues of cultural and literary importance and elected new a new Central Council that elected a new Central Executive Committee includig new team of office bearers .

The Third National Conference of the organisation was held at Bhopal in September 1987.It was an historic Conference as it was inaugurated by late Shri Utpal Dutt, a great theatre personality and reputed cine artist. Various issues concerning cultural and literary scene were discussed at the Conference and resolutions adopted. An important resolution on Urdu language was also adopted which stated that ‘the struggle to protect and enrich Urdu language is an integral part of the struggle for preservation of democracy in India’. The Conference also elected new Central Council that elected a new Central Executive including a new team of office bearers.

The Association held its Second National Conference at Varanasi in October 1984 at which the General Secretary presented the Report about the work done by the organisation and also analysed the cultural scenario of the country and various challenges that confronted writers in India. The elections for the new Central Council were also held at the conference. The new Central Council elected a new Central Executive including a new team of office bearers and its members.

First historic Conference held at New Delhi in which more than 500 delegates from various states of India participated. The delegates discussed the draft Manifesto and Constitution of the Association at the Conference and adopted the basic documents. On the basis of those documents the Conference elected a Central Council and the Central Council elected an Executive Council including its office bearers such as the President, General Secretary, Vice Presidents and Secretaries, Treasurer and some members to run the organisation.