Participants skip fest, many key events dropped

Yavatmal: Controversies that besieged the 92nd Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan took its toll as a few of its most watched out for events will not be staged. With many imminent literary personalities withdrawing from the lit fest, talk shows, felicitation event and panel discussions have been abandoned. All the events were scheduled for the second day of the meet.
The 11am to 12pm session, scheduled for felicitation of Vidya Bal and BM Paraswale, will not take place as both are not attending the meet. Similarly, the talk show which would have had Girish Kuber, Nitin Kalekar and Gyanesh Maharao in conversation also stands cancelled as all the three are not coming.

The event based on short stories, titled ‘Lalit Gadya’, ‘Lalit Gadyakar’, ‘Lalit Gadyanubhav’ also will be conducted without Dr Shrikant Tidke, who was to take part in the discussion and Ashutosh Javadekar who was to moderate the discussion. Now, it will feature on Madhukar Dharmapurikar, Bharat Sasane and Varsha Gajendragadkar.

The star event, which was an interview with Prabha Ganorkar on the concluding day, too has been dropped as she would not be attending the meet.

The mood, however, remained upbeat on the inaugural day as organizers said absence of those not attending would not impact the flow of the programme. “There are two events being held at the same time slot, so cancelling one will not affect the meet as at least one event is being held during that time,” said Indrajeet Orake, member of Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal.

The lit meet has a host of participants drawn from Vidarbha region and many from Yavatmal.