Kapil Sibal faces political questions on literary platform

Jaipur, Jan 21: Union Minister Kapil Sibal's poetry reading session at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival turned into a political discussion when people bombarded him with questions ranging from Anna Hazare to internet censorship to education policies.

A group of youngsters calling themselves "I am Anna", asked him why can't the government find a peaceful way to deal with Anna Hazare. "I don't know the definition of peace here.

There can be no peace without dialogue; it can only come with dialogue," said Sibal, who was reading from his poetry book at the event. There can be no peace if you are not willing to listen to the other person, he added. Unsatisfied with the reply, the group booed him with a "no" and shouted "this is wrong".

Replying to queries about the recent controversy over internet censorship, he said the government does not believe in censorship.

"We don't believe in censorship at all...I have given a public statement saying that this government does not believe in censorship," the Union Minister for Communication and IT said.

The session was in for another dramatic turn when a young man jumped onto the stage and tried to ask a question.

Namita Gokhale, the event organiser, asked him to get down from the stage and then ask his question. A person from the audience requested the minister to write a poem on Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev to which the minister readily agreed.

"When I will write a poem on that, I will definitely read it. May be in the third part of this book I will," he said. The minister said that he writes most of his poem on his mobile as he hardly gets time. "All the poems in this book were written on my mobile" he said.

PTI