CM Yogi inaugurated BNA Foundation Day, said- Indian society knows how to respect its tradition and culture.

Lucknow, 5 April. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday that Indian society knows how to respect its tradition, its culture and its heritage. Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the grand ‘Golden Jayanti Natya Samaroh’ organized to commemorate 50 years of the establishment of Bharatendu Natya Academy (BNA) here, which will continue on April 12. In his address on this occasion, he said, “Today theater is trying to present good and society is also accepting that goodness in the same form.”

CM Yogi said, “If we want to see goodness in the society, we will also have to see that till now the world’s most popular serial has been ‘Ramayana’. This is the Indian society, which knows how to respect its tradition, its culture and its heritage.” After watching a theatrical presentation inspired by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay’s ‘Anand Math’ based on the famine in West Bengal, he appreciated it and said, “Vande Mataram presentation should be organized in every district. This presentation should not be of 15 minutes but of two hours.”

“It is necessary to make people realize that tragedy during the staging,” he said. The Chief Minister said, “We refrain from giving respect to our citizens. Earlier, goons and villains were presented as heroes. The result of presenting the villains of the society was that similar types of characters emerged in the society.” Congratulating the Academy on its 50-year journey, Yogi said, “We have been hearing since childhood that theater is the mirror of the society and it decides the direction of the society.”

He said, “Theatre is the place where emotions become words, words turn into acting and the same acting becomes public consciousness and gives a new direction to the society, as can be seen through the song ‘Vande Mataram’ of ‘Anand Math’.” Yogi said, “This song is proof of what patriotism is, what is the importance of Swaraj and what is subjugation. The foreign government did not take the famine of Bengal seriously – people were dying of hunger, but the British government did not even pay any attention to it.”

Discussing that period, he said, “Yesterday I was looking at the census figures of 1921, which gave goosebumps. This was the decade when India’s population decreased instead of increasing.” Referring to the figures, he said, “At that time the population of the country was less than 30 crores and about three crore people were hit by famine, but the atrocities of the foreign rule continued.”

Referring to the functioning of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led ‘double engine’ government during the Corona pandemic, the Chief Minister said, “On the contrary, during a global pandemic like Corona, the entire world was affected and a lockdown was imposed in India too. Many rescue efforts were made.” He said, “Remember, the workers returned to their homes. We arranged vehicles for them, created isolation centres, transported them to their homes and provided regular ration facilities.” Yogi said, “When the government has sensitivity, it comes forward and fights the disease and also defeats it.”

He said, “The two indigenous vaccines developed under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are examples for the world. When the government is sensitive, it makes better arrangements. On the contrary, the picture of insensitive foreign rule comes to the fore through ‘Anand Math’.” He said that Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay had written this novel considering the widespread tragedy of the Bengal famine, and the situation at that time could be imagined.

Tourism and Culture Minister of Uttar Pradesh Government, Jaiveer Singh said in his address that this institution has brought glory not only in the state but also at the country level in the field of theater arts. BNA President Dr. Rati Shankar Tripathi welcomed all the guests including the Chief Minister. Many prominent people including former Deputy Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha member Dr. Dinesh Sharma and Lucknow Mayor Sushma Kharkwal were present on this occasion.

According to official information, Bharatendu Natya Academy was established in the year 1975 by the Culture Department of Uttar Pradesh in the memory of the great litterateur Bharatendu Harishchandra. It was said that systematic training in theater arts started here from the year 1976 and a two-year diploma course was started in 1981, due to which this institute became included in the major theater training centers of the country.