Swara Bhasker: This is for people who are turned off by harsh messaging

At a time when the country is polarised and lines have been drawn between the Left and Right with CAANRCNPR at the epicentre one could say theres been little bhaichaara and pyaar and more nafrat and aag To counter this love seems all set to be in the air next weekend that is the Valentines Day weekend when 10 cities across the country are expected to come together to celebrate their one true love mdash IndiaThe event is being organised by a group of citizens under the umbrella platform India My Valentine This includes people from the film fraternity Swara Bhasker Vikas Katyal Aditi Anand activist Fahad Ahmad Kabeer Palshikar and entrepreneur Richard Jacob among othersActivist Fahad Ahmad with actoractivist Swara BhaskaThe celebratory and collaborative programme aims at celebrating the February 14 weekend with music and spoken word So far the event is to take place in ten cities including New Delhi Kolkata Indore Jaipur Kochi and Hyderabad The opening ceremony will be held in New Delhi on February 14 and the closing concert on February 16 will be heldin MumbaiThe event will reaffirm our faith in our fraternity in our unity in our Constitution mdash as Indians mdash no matter what our political differences may be reads the concept note We will help you curate the lineup of talent and artists and help coordinate the event in your city Logistical and financial responsibility will belong to the local groupsThe poster for India My ValentineThe note further read We gather to celebrate the India we know and love mdash the India of tolerance the India of acceptance the India that strove to be a better place for even her most oppressed children the India that was a dream We celebrate the India of Tagore and Gandhi the India of Ashfaqullah Bismil Savitribai Phule Fatima The India of Bhagat Singh and AmbedkarFacilitating hosts artistsThe organisers will act as facilitators between potential venue sites and the artists themselves Those interested in bringing the event to their city can contact them at IndiamyvalentinegmailcomIt is a sort of callout said Bhaskar who is one of the organisers We realised that there are people who arent into aggressive politics or harsh messaging They might not come for a protest but they will come to attend an evening of cultural performances such as spoken word poetry and music The name India My Valentine represents the fact that no matter how many differences the electorate might have over political views we love IndiaIndia My Valentine will also act as a liaison between artists and the venue The citybased venues will have the freedom to choose the content for the event For instance whether or not to mention the Citizenship Amendment Act the National Register of Citizens NRC and the National Population Register NPR will be up to the individual venuesOn the other hand some venues are hardcore protest sites themselves So it is open to interpretation Bhaskar saidThe organisers have also received requests from smaller towns of Uttar Pradesh We are concerned about the artists safety We wont compromise on security Bhaskar saidMost of the current protests are taking place in echo chambers The Right wing has successfully polarised them Whether we have been able to reach across this echo chamber is unclear she addedIt is heartening to see the response People from all across the country have offered their spaces to host the event or participate as performers It goes to show how deeply the events of the past months have captured the imagination of the youth she saidAhmad on the other hand said The idea is to celebrate an India that gives equal rights to everyone without any discrimination We will restore that India for which our freedom fighters fought India is my first love because it gives us everything today that we have in our lifeParticipating artistesVishal Dadlani musicvocals Rekha Bhardwaj musicvocals Swanand Kirkire poetryvocals Aditi Mittal standup Kaneez Surka standup Sanjay Rajoura standup Ankur Tewari musicvocals Saba Azad musicvocals Madara rap Aamir Aziz spoken word Sabika Naqvi spoken word Himanshu Bajpai dastangoi mdash Urdu storytellingDolly Singh YouTube sketchesCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates