Onir Dhar – Photo: Amar Ujala Expansion On the very first day of the Bhopal Literature Festival, there was a ruckus regarding an event organized for the LGBTQ community. This program is to be held at Bharat Bhavan and after the protest of the trustees there, the organizers had to cancel the event itself. There has been a debate on social media regarding this. Arguments are being given in favor and against the event. A program of the LGBTQ community was to be held on Friday, the first day of the Bhopal Literature Fest at Bhopal Bhawan, Shyamala Hills. Writer Onir Dhar was about to speak on the topic ‘I am Onir and I am Gay’. Well, there was a ruckus in an institution like Bharat Bhavan for holding an event on this controversial topic. Many people protested. Tried to talk to the organizer Raghav Chandra in this matter, but he was busy with the preparations for the fest. Because of this he could not talk to them. Trustees of Bharat Bhavan protested

Trustees of Bharat Bhavan also stood against this event. Trust member Vishwa Mohan Bhatt said that we had personally objected to organizing this event at Bharat Bhawan. Freedom of thought is right in its place, but these programs are different from our culture. We have neither been asked by the Organizer to organize nor cancel the event. Another member of the trust and actor Rajeev Verma also said that the event was set up by the organisers. We were not asked anything. We objected to this. Onir shared his pain on Twitter

Event Onir Dhar Who was He has expressed his anguish over the cancellation of the event on Twitter. He wrote that I am shocked and saddened that I had to leave the program in which I was really looking forward to speak. A group opposed me and my program. Threatened to commit violence. The police told the organizers that they could not guarantee my safety. Because of this they canceled my program.

Shocked and Sad that an event I was really looking forward to speaking at had to drop me. Apparently there was a group threatening protest and violence and the police told the organizers that they cannot guarantee my safety. So they canceled the event. Let me process this… pic.twitter.com/AMSeG9CAa1 — iamOnir (@IamOnir) January , 2023506
Mixed reaction on social media
Daring Journalists like Sanghvi and Nidhi Razdan have also expressed grief while commenting on Onir’s tweet. At the same time, journalist and well-known Hindi writer Vijay Manohar Tiwari has welcomed the cancellation of the event by tweeting. He said that he is deeply respected in the society, but in the name of literature, at least in the premises of Bharat Bhawan, this subject is neither relevant nor necessary. After a belated realization, this nonsense topic has been immediately removed from the Bhopal Literature Festival by the enthusiastic, thoughtful and modernist organizers. ,