The Jaipur Literature Festival, the five-day extravaganza which the organisers themselves compared to a “Big Indian Wedding”, came to an end here on Monday. The concluding event at Diggi Palace was a political debate on “State v/s People: The State has declared war on its poorest people in the name of development”. The session, for which the participants were not announced in advance, had Union Minister Salman Khursheed defending the State while other panellists included writer-publisher Urvashi Butalia, Jawaharlal Nehru University Professor Moushmi Basu, Tehelka journalist Shoma Choudhary, activist professor Dileep Simeon and British businessman H. S. Narula, one of the promoters of the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival.
The success of the event, the fifth in uninterrupted succession this year, could be measured from the fact that it even attracted politicians this time, though – barring Mr. Khursheed and Rajasthan Tourism Minister Bina Kak— none of them was extended a formal invitation by the organisers who till now, and perhaps rightly too, remain wary of any kind of political association! Among the regular visitors at the festival was former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who on days dropped in at the venue for a second or third time to spend some time in one of the tents—where the sessions were in progress—or to talk to litterateurs and to browse through the books at the temporary book stalls put up at the venue. The other visitors included Rajasthan Health Minister Imaduddin Ahmed and local Congress leader Rajeev Arora, who is also one of the organisers of the Jaipur Virasat Festival, the event which gave birth to the idea of an exclusive literature festival in the city.
The success of the event, the fifth in uninterrupted succession this year, could be measured from the fact that it even attracted politicians this time, though – barring Mr. Khursheed and Rajasthan Tourism Minister Bina Kak— none of them was extended a formal invitation by the organisers who till now, and perhaps rightly too, remain wary of any kind of political association! Among the regular visitors at the festival was former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who on days dropped in at the venue for a second or third time to spend some time in one of the tents—where the sessions were in progress—or to talk to litterateurs and to browse through the books at the temporary book stalls put up at the venue. The other visitors included Rajasthan Health Minister Imaduddin Ahmed and local Congress leader Rajeev Arora, who is also one of the organisers of the Jaipur Virasat Festival, the event which gave birth to the idea of an exclusive literature festival in the city.
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