Where’s the party tonight: with polls in sight,chunaavi poets fight for the gold

Besides holding kavi sammelans and mushairas blessed by their politician patrons,these poets are a fixture at political meetings where they come in handy to hold the crowd with their compositions till the time big leaders arrive to address the rally.

While the BJP leads the pack,the Congress too has discovered its “poetic love” by rallying Urdu poets. The Samajwadi Party,however,has excelled by roping in big “chunaavi kavis”,as the tribe is called.

While the BJP has poets like Ved Vrat Bajpayee (Lucknow),Gajendra Solanki (New Delhi),Om Pal Singh ‘Nidarr’ (Firozabad),Manzar Bhopali (Bhopal),Basheer Badr (Bhopal),Kamlesh ‘Mridu’ (Sitapur) and Ram Kishore Tiwari (Barabanki) to name a few,the Congress has Munavvar Rana (Lucknow),Wasim Barelvi (Bareilly),Shailendra Shukla (Lucknow) and Siddheshwar ‘Kranti’ (Lucknow).

The SP has roped in poets like Gopal Das ‘Neeraj’ (Aligarh) and Som Thakur (Agra),to name a few. Others include Sunil Jogi (New Delhi),Dr Sarita Sharma (New Delhi),Kamlesh Sharma (Etawah) and not to forget,Mulayam Singh Yadav’s favourite (next to Neeraj of course) Uday Pratap Singh (New Delhi). The BSP has poet Raees Ansari singing accolades for it.

Popular among apolitical poets in UP,Delhi and MP are Surendra Sharma and Ashok Chakradhar (New Delhi),Hullad Moradabadi (Moradabad),Om Prakash Aditya,Arun Gemini (Delhi),Sarvesh Asthana (Lucknow), Dr Vishu Saxena (Hathras) and Pradeep Chaubey (Gwalior).

Although most of these kavi sammelans are not organised under any political banner — a candidate may just turn up as the “chief guest” — the fees for “chunnavi kavis” are “gifted” by the candidates or the parties. The fees shoot up during the poll season. Those who charge around Rs 3,000 during “off-peak season” will not settle for anything less than Rs 5,000. The sought-after ones even charge Rs 14,000 per evening (along with second AC fare and accommodation),while the coordinator may get Rs 7,000-Rs 10,000 for the programme.

“Summers are otherwise a dull season for us. But this year being the poll year,we are sure to do a good business. And whether we have political affiliations or remain neutral,we are surely in demand in these times,” a poet said.

Poet Munavvar Rana,whose love for the Congress is well known,has his roots in Sonia Gandhi’s pocket borough of Rae Bareli. “If you look at all the parties,they are either communal or have goons as their candidates. In such a case,the Congress is indeed a wonderful option. I don’t mind singing praises for it.”

Som Thakur,a Mulayam favourite who had been the chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan during his regime,has his own take. “We are poets and we see the socio-political scene in a different light altogether. If we are able to tell people about the difference between parties,then why should not we?”

Kamlesh Mridu,who is also an active member of the Sanskaar Bharti,the cultural wing of the RSS,too doesn’t mind rendering “Hindu lines”.

“We have all the right to show whom we support. I support the BJP ideology and hence I speak about it in my verses too.”