Campaign to connect communities begins from I-Day

Lucknow, Aug 13 : A six-month-long nationwide campaign urging masses to establish a one-on-one connection with people of different communities will begin in Lucknow on Independence Day.

The Mere Ghar Aake Toh Dekho, the campaign will go on till Martyrs Day (Mahatma Gandhis death anniversary) on January 30.

About 2,000 people are expected to participate in the drive during its launch.It will also use hashtags like #MereGharAakeToDekho and #CelebrateAzadiTogether for wider outreach.

Organised by a group of social organisations like National Federation of Indian Women and Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA), Dastak Foundation, Red Brigade Trust among others, the drive has been supported by actors Ratna Pathak Shah and Nandita Das.

People will be urged to visit the homes of those from marginalised communities and minorities.

"It is to open a dialogue with people from vulnerable section of society.

From poetry to plays and songs to small videos, participants will use various mediums to express their experiences of visiting somebody of a different community, caste, class and religion," said theatre artist and activist Deepak Kabir who is part of the organising committee.

"Despite all the identities we assume, we all are humans bound to the same cycle of birth and death, work and play, joy and suffering, and success and failures," said Shahzad Rizvi, general secretary at UP chapter of IPTA.

"We live in a society where families are divided.Within one housing complex, people do not see each other.Based on choices and what and who they support, there is further fragmentation.

As a result, society is losing its texture and theres cultural decay.I am hoping this would change something," said 70-year-old Jai Narain Budhwar, a retired professor.

amita/kvd