Three intense amazing days of cultural programmes and discussions at the Janakpurdham festival of literature, art and theatre, April 6th to 8th. Politics and arts intertwined throughout. Fierce debates on stage about the need to uplift Maithili language and culture, and to establish a Madhesh Pradesh Academy to support and carry out research on the arts in the languages spoken in Madhesh. Madhesh Chief Minister Lal Babu Raut announced that the preparation for the creation of the Madhesh Bhasa Sahitya were about to be finalised.

A variety of languages on stage: Jankapur’s Mithila Natyakala Parishad (MINAP) staged the play ‘Gam Nai Sutaiye’, written by Mahendra Malangi and directed by Pramesh Jha in Maithili, Darbhanga Natya Samuha performed ‘Abhishapat Deobrat’ and Manipur’s Akhok Natya Samuha performed ‘H Sister’ in Hindi while Ways Pvt. Lmt. from Kathmandu performed ‘Dhalkeko Salaijo’ in Nepali language.