Artistes in Madhya Pradesh didn’t drink or eat anything and kept silent for four hours on Thursday as part of nationwide protest.
All India Theatre Council (AITC) organised the symbolic fast to draw the attention of the government towards the problems being faced by artistes including folk and tribal due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
They took the fast from 7 to 11am staying at home. Some of them took part in protest at their rehearsal place maintaining physical distancing. They kept silent and didn’t drink or eat till four hours. They posted photographs of the protest on social media and also tweeted it to PMO.
Artistes across the country including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh took part in the protest.
Secretary of AITC, Sunil Raj told Free Press the condition of artistes especially folk and tribal who are fully dependent on art is very pathetic during three month long Covid-19 lockdown. He said even there are no possibilities that they can start work. “It may take 3 or 6 months. What will they do and how will they their home till then,” Sunil said
He said they organised the protest across the country to draw the attention of the government towards their problems. They wrote a letter regarding the problems to the Prime Minster Narendra Modi on May 5 but to no avail, he said. “We will write it again,” he said.
Hundreds of artistes across the country took part in the protest and the protesting artistes from MP were led by vice- president Aarti Vishwakarma, he said.
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