Recognition of the voices of Protest and Dissent is the Essence of Democracy: Prof Mashrur Shahid Hossain
Dr.H.S.Chandalia
The XVIII Annual International Conference of Rajasthan Association for Studies in English was held on 20-21 November 2021 in a hybrid mode. It was organized jointly by the department of English, M.V.Shramjeevi College, Janardan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth , Udaipur and Dr. B.R.Ambedkar Government PG College, Nimbaheda, Chittorgarh. The inaugural function was held at Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Government PG College, Nimbaheda, Chittorgarh while all other sessions were held on line. Ninety six participants registered for the conference. Three plenary sessions, seven technical sessions and a special parallel session were organized besides the inaugural and the valedictory sessions. In addition to different parts of the country scholars from Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and South Africa also participated in the conference.
The conference began with the lighting of the sacred lamp of learning and wisdom by the guests Lighting of the lamp by the guests and chanting of Mantra byDr. Rajendra Kumar Singhvi.Dr. Kamal Nahar, Principal, Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Government College, Nimbahera, Chittorgarh and Dr. Sanjay Joshi, Government College, Neemuch, MP presented the welcome address. Prof. H.S.Chandalia, Conference Director presented the concept theme and delved upon various aspects of the subject. The report of the Association was presented by Dr.K.S.Kang, General Secretary of the Association. He said that the Association has been actively engaged in academic activities since its inception in 2003. The latest issue of the journal of Rajasthan Association for Studies in English was released by the guests in the inaugural function. Guest Editor, Dr. Rajshree Ranawat, Assistant Professor, Jai Narayan Vyas University, Jodhpur introduced the journal. New publications of the members were also released in the inaugural session. Prof. H.S.Chandalia’s book titled The Power of Pen, a collection of journalistic articles was released by the guests. It has a foreword by Prof. M.Shaffey Kidwai, Noted columnist and Chairman of the department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Aligarh Muslim University. This book is dedicated to noted journalist Gauri Lankesh who was brutally murdered by the right wing fundamentalist fanatics. Two more books titled Dramatizing the Truth: The Plays of Girish Karnad edited by Prof.H.S.Chandalia and Abrar Ahmad and Aspects of Indian Drama in English edited by Prof.H.S.Chandalia and Prof. Mukta Sharma were also released. A book titled Antarrashtriya Sambandh written by Ms.Pavani CHaudhary, Assistant Professor, Government College, Gudha Malani, Barmer was also released. Key note address was delivered by Chief Guest Prof. Mashrur Shahid Hossain, Department of English, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, 1342, Bangladesh. The title of his key note address was "Reconceiving 'I Who Am Bound': Un/Writing Restricted Spaces". The focus of his talk was on the way 'writings' in restricted spaces - from prison to quarantine zones - have reconceived the notion and practice of 'restriction' and 'being restricted'. The title had a quote from a poem in Prison Days by Agyeya, an Indian poet. The talk referred extensively from Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Prison Diaries too. He said that the recognition of the voices of dissent and protest is the essence of democracy. The Association has a tradition of felicitating men of letters in every conference. This year Janab Vaseem Irfani, Urdu Poet and Critic from Nimbaheda, Chittorgarh was felicited by the Association. The Citation presented to him was read by Prof.Prashant Mishra , Professor and Head , Department of English, Government College, Neemuch. Every year Prof. S.N.Joshi Memorial Lecture is organized in the annual conference in the memory of former President of the Association late Prof.S.N.Joshi. This year Prof. Ameena Ansari, Jamia Millia, University, New Delhi delivered Prof.S.N.Joshi Memorial Lecture. Prof. Ansari talked of various aspects of freedom of writing and writing for freedom. She talked of the forces of suppression of free voices and quoted several examples of dissenting voices in world literature . The session was chaired by Prof. Sunil Bhargava, Vice President of the Association. Dr. H.M.Kothari , convenor of the conference offered the vote of thanks.
The inaugural session was followed by the first Plenary Session. Introduction of the speakers was given by Dr. Parul Mishra, Professor,Amity School of Languages. In this session Prof. Dipa Chakrabarty, Head, Amity School of Languages, Amity University, Jaipur was the speaker while Prof. Umed Singh, Professor and Head, Department of English, C.D.L. University, Sirsa, Haryana chaired the session. Prof. Chakravarty spoke on the topic “ Assia Djebar: A Trajectory from Restriction to Liberation”. Prof. Umed Singh spoke of the Jail diary of Sardar Bhagat Singh also while presenting his concluding remarks. The second plenary was presented by Dr. Harshad Santosh Pore, Assistant Professor, KES Shroff college, Kandivali West, Mumbai. Dr. Harshad spoke on the topic “The Jailer and His World: Creating Prison as a Narrative Device”. He examined prison as a teleological narrative device with special reference to two different kinds of prisons created in Konnie Huq’s “Fifteen Million Merits”, a story from a television series anthology Black Mirror and Stephen King’s novel Under the Dome. This session was chaired by Prof. Sabita Tripathi, Department of English, Sambalpur University, Sambalpur, Odisha and moderated by Dr. Anant Dadheech, Associate Professor, M.L.V. Government College, Bhilwara. The third plenary session was organized on Sunday, 21st November, 2021. Introduction of the Speakers was given by Dr.Kshamata Chaudhary, Associate Professor, VMOU, Kota. Prof. Susanta Kumar Bardhan, Associate Professor, Birbhum, West Bengal, was the key speaker. He spoke on the theme “Incarcerated Voices: A Critical Study of the Ptison Writings of Communist Revolutionaries”. This session was chaired by Prof. Prashant Mishra, Professor, Government PG College, Neemuch, MP. He spoke about the communist revolutionaries who were put in jail during seventies in West Bengal. He translated many of their poems into English and underlined their indomitable spirit.
Seven technical sessions were organized in which scholars from different parts of the country presented their papers. Prof. Mukta Sharma, Professor, JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur, Dr. Sonu Shiva, Government Dungar College, Bikaner,Dr. Minakshi Jain, HoD, Department of English, M.L.S.University , Dr.Vinita Goyal, Associate Professor, Government Girls College, Alwar, Dr. K.S.Kang, Principal, Maharana Pratap Government College, Chittorgarh, Dr.Rekha Tiwari, Associate Professor, G.N.G. College, Udaipur .Rukhsana Saifee, Chartered Institute of Technology, Abu Road, Sirohi, Dr.Sanjay Kumar Singh, Professor of English, Department of Humanities, O.P.Jindal University, Raigad, Chhattisgarh chaired the technical sessions.
The conference ended with a valedictory session in which the director of the conference Prof. Hemendra Singh Chandalia presented the report of the conference and offered the vote of thanks. This session was moderated by Dr. Rajshree Ranawat, Jai Narayan Vyas University, Jodhpur. The chief guest of this session Prof. Gourhari Behera from Gorakhpur University talked about the theoretical perspective of restricted spaces highlighting the significance of “Space” , particularly heterotopias in literature. This session was chaired by Prof. Supriya Agarwal, Professor of English at the Central University of Rajasthan.
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