The Hindu : Progressive forces will triumph: Basu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 18, 2002

National

National

Progressive forces will triumph: Basu

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD MARCH 17. The former West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, today said there was no need for pessimism over the present upsurge of fundamentalist forces since progressive and forward looking people were active in political, cultural and ideological fields.

Social problems could not be tackled unless people rose above individualism and consumerism and strove for the common good. Otherwise, comunalism would lead people astray.

Mr. Basu, who was inaugurating a seven-day folk arts festival ahead of the CPI(M)'s all-India congress starting from March 19, said there was no need for gloom because progressive forces would ultimately triumph.

The CPI(M) leader emphasised the need for concerted efforts to promote folk arts, which exemplified the country's unity in diversity. He recalled how the West Bengal Government was promoting the traditional art by holding a festival annually, establishing a Central Academy in Kolkata with units in tribal districts and opening a museum for display of their handicrafts.

He recalled the role played in the independence struggle by artistes and intellectuals who formed the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) in 1941 and roused people's consciousness against the British.

Earlier in 1936, the Progressive Writers' Organisation also carried out a struggle against the fascist onslaught against civilisation.

Eminent dance teacher, Nataraja Ramakrishna, said that in spite of their poverty the folk artistes believed and propagated the importance of humanism, a quality that was becoming increasingly rare.

The CPI(M) State secretary, B. V. Raghavulu, presided over the meeting.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National