Dramatic societies of four DU colleges say they were denied permission to showcase talent at a competition in Ramjas
The dramatic societies of four Delhi University colleges — Gargi, SGTB Khalsa, Guru Gobind Singh and Dyal Singh were denied permission to perform in a street play competition at Ramjas College, on Friday, allegedly due to the "controversial" themes of their productions.
The colleges' dramatic societies were scheduled to perform at Ramjas' annual theatre competition titled Mukhatib. "Last night, we were informed by the organisers that the college administration have denied us permission to perform our annual production titled Mai Kashmir or Aap? Main Manipur (I'm Kashmir and you? I'm Manipur) for security reasons," said Nimisha Rajendran, president of Kshitij, the streetplay society of Gargi college.
"The play focuses on the current ongoing problems in Kashmir and Manipur and tries to emphasise the power relations between the centre and periphery," she said, adding that the play also had a scene of Burhan Wani's funeral. The play was last performed at the National School of Drama (NSD) earlier in February.
While the Ramjas administration denied the allegations saying, the colleges' dramatic societies themselves backed out from the competition, college students said the performances were cancelled keeping in mind the recent violence that took place at the college campus.
"It is really unfortunate that the tremors of February 23 violence in Ramjas can still be felt at our campus. The administration had called a meeting on Thursday evening where it was decided that these colleges should not perform during the event on Friday keeping in mind the security issues," confirmed a member of Ramjas' dramatic society Shunya, who wished to remain anonymous.
"Only Lady Shri Ram college backed out from the competition due to personal reasons. Out of the other colleges, only three out of seven colleges were allowed to perform," he added.
The performance of SGTB Khalsa college's annual production Trump Card — a political satire on the current atmosphere in the country was earlier cancelled in their own college, just a day after the violence in Ramjas College. The violence broke out because of the cancellation of a seminar where Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid had been invited. The cancellation came after the BJP's student wing ABVP had objected to it. However Ankur, the dramatic society of SGBT Khalsa college, later performed the play during a protest organised by the left-backed Student Federation of India (SFI).
The theme of intolerance had been raised in Guru Gobind Singh college's play. Titled Sawaal to Uthega (Questions will be raised) the plays raised questions and asked if there was really an "intolerant" atmosphere prevailing in the country. Dramatic students of Dyal Singh college was all set to perform Jokistan, which spoke about the "system" and why fellow Indians were blindly following the system.
The dramatic societies of the four colleges whose plays have been banned have claimed that the authorities were suppressing the right to free speech. "This is a sheer violation of freedom speech and expression," said a member of Ankur, the dramatic society of SGTB Khalsa college.
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