Chechnya sums up literary contest on Kadyrov

The republic has held a literary contest among students of philological departments dedicated to the local head Ramzan Kadyrov. In the coming days it will be summed up, and the winners will be rewarded.

The contest of literary works under the motto "Hero of Our Time, Leader and Patriot", dedicated to Ramzan Kadyrov, received dozens of works from philology students of the Chechen State University and the Grozny State Pedagogical Institute.

"The contest was specifically dated to the forthcoming inauguration of the head of our republic Ramzan Kadyrov. Works in both the Russian and Chechen languages were admitted to the contest. It was expected that authors would disclose the topic as full as possible, speak about the outstanding personality of Ramzan Kadyrov as the person, who has made an enormous contribution to the revival of our republic, establishment of peace and stability in our land. Dozens of works were sent to the contest; now we have to choose the best of them and define the winners," said the spokesman of the Committee of the Chechen Government for Youth Matters, which was the initiator of the contest.

The initiative of the Youth Committee to hold a contest of literary works about Ramzan Kadyrov was differently assessed by the public and students themselves. Some of them believe that this contest was invented by bureaucrats solely in order to catch the eye of the head of the republic, while others dislike the motto.

"Our bureaucrats and all sorts of leaders are doing everything possible to draw Ramzan Kadyrov's attention. They come up with all sorts of "contests" and "roundtables" in his honour," the head of a local NGO told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "I haven't heard about such thing held in Ingushetia, Dagestan, Moscow or elsewhere. Although I don't think that residents of other regions respect their leaders less than people in Chechnya respect their president."

He believes that the contest is of no interest "in the literary or any other aspect" and aimed only at another demonstration of love and respect for the boss."

However, this opinion is shared not by all students. According to one of Ruslan's classmate, participation in such contests means first and foremost an expression of respect not only to Kadyrov, but the entire Chechen nation. "Ramzan Kadyrov is of course the leader of the nation. In such a short period of time he managed to rebuild Grozny, restore everything destroyed, create jobs, conditions for study and many more. This is possible only for a person with extraordinary abilities, who is selflessly devoted to his people and his republic," she said. "Why then we can't write about it?"

"There's nothing original in this contest," said Louiza S., a former school teacher in Grozny. "I once had a chance to see some of the works devoted to the elder Kadyrov and Ramzan. Just a banal set of phrases, excessive praise and expression of immense love for the hero and demonstrative manifestation of delight - that's it. The main thing that the authors aspire is to attract attention of the commission, get into winners and get some reward. The desire to surpass others in expressing feelings of delight to the main hero dominates in such texts over the writing talent and originality."