Lucknow: Songs for freedom banned by British to get a new life

LUCKNOW: The two-day function organised to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi will witness the release of songs from the freedom struggle period that were banned by the British to contain rebellion against the Raj.

Songs will be sung by folk singer Malini Awasthi at a cultural programme organised at the Shilp Gram on October 1.

Awasthi, along with a troupe from NSD, Delhi, would be performing a stage show.

Apart from this, the culture department has organised a series of programmes which include free distribution of electrical spinning wheels by the khadi department.

Gandhi birth anniversary celebrations would also mark debates on the scrapping of provisions of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and criminalising of triple talaq among Muslims by the Centre.

Winners of debates from district to divisional headquarters would be invited to witness the special session of the assembly on October 2. Speeches of the winners of the debates would be compiled and sent to the Centre.

Another highlight of the two-day function finalised at a meeting of the culture department with several other departments is a march by 151 children dressed up as Mahatma Gandhi. The special procession by children dressed as the Mahatma would be flagged off by chief minister Yogi Adityanath from Gandhi statue at GPO park and culminate in front of the Assembly building.

The culture department has also invited Teerathnath Gandhi of Kotwa Shukulpur village of Pratapgarh. Teerathnath has been dressing as Gandhi and leading life on the Mahatma’s ideals for over 20 years.

Teerathnath will lead the children’s march from Gandhi statue to Vidhan Sabha at 9 am on October 2.