The arts fraternity and the government have always been at loggerheads with each other — Whether it is due to censorship or encouraging diverse schools of thought to prevail. Yet, even in the visceral naysaying between the two, freedom of speech has never been so resolutely stepped over as it was recently. Veteran Bollywood actor and renowned artist Amol Palekar was attending an exhibition in Mumbai on Saturday and as he stepped onto the podium to speak, he was rudely interrupted several times during his speech at the National Gallery of Modern Art. From being asked to keep to the topic (of the retrospective on an artist), he was also asked to shorten his talk when he tried to question the dissolution of the advisory committee. The actor then went onto share another incident that occurred last month when artist Nayantara Sahgal had been asked to speak at a function, and the invitation was later withdrawn, leaving people wondering why.
Twitter is filled with vitriolic comments, and people are reacting to the government and its reluctance to have an open forum in what was a mild criticism against an arts body. Infuriated at this latest spear targeted at the heart of freedom of speech, we find out more.
Ad Guru Prahlad Kakar puts this entire episode into a national perspective where polarisation is at its peak, “I think the run up to the elections is polarising so many and their lobbies over political correctness. When you bring someone into power, you hope that they will rise above petty politics. But when lobbies get insecure and assume a status that blatantly says, you are either with us or against us, it’s wrong. Be it any party... it’s the same rule. For a large part, the world looked at India as a country where there were no lobbies, and today the country is a lobby, with polarisation at its peak, be it Congress and its Rafale chants or BJP and its extreme sensitivity towards criticism.
My contention is simple, if culture, theatre, the arts do not act as a political reliever, and give people a platform to vent within the framework of a society, those societies will breakdown. Why are people curbing civil liberties because of personal insecurities? People like Amol and I and others are very essential to preserve dialogue, and relieve pressure while promoting creative freedom. Only when you are not sure of your ground do you curb such activities. It’s counter productive.”
One twitter user Sanjay Hegde, @sanjayuvacha wrote, “Jis nagri mein daya dharam naahin, us nagri mein rehna kya. In the context of what happened to #AmolPalekar in @mumbai_ngma time to recollect what Pandit Bhimsen Joshi did during the other emergency.”
Swara Bhasker
If one were to see the video, the rude interruption is evident, and the lack of support for the veteran actor is shocking.
Is it time to ponder why artists and intellectuals are turning against the government, as the hashtag #Stand WithAmolPalekar goes viral on twitter? City artiste and art curator Harish K Sejekan is categoric but circumspect, “As an artist myself, and a curator, I think freedom of speech is our fundamental right. It is appalling to see how the NGMA event unfolded with Palekar being interrupted, again and again. Yet, I do respect the curator’s view of keeping the dialogue to more about the art show. There has been much ado about the whole freedom of expression. For art, there should be freedom. Of course, NGMA has been doing great things for art, and it is too early to criticise the government body. A local artist body is much-needed because without a local artist’s body involved, chances are that it might lose out the connect with local artists.”Palekar was not allowed to complete his strain of thought — questioning the NGMA advisory committee’s dissolution.
Swara Bhasker has also reacted on Twitter while quoing a Gorakh Panday poem, “Reminds one of the Gorakh Pandey poem... Raja bola raath hai, rani boli raath hai, mantri bola raath hai, sab bolay raath hai, yeh subah, subah ki baath hai. Welcome to #democracy 2.0 #NewIndia #AmolPalekar.”
Voltair quote comes to mind, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” which is a freedom of expression in Article 19 of the Constitution and among the fundamental principles of a democracy. People are also questioning the need of the government to get involved in such tactics, like this tweet which read, “What a disgusting display of officious mediocrity, busily genuflecting before the government while insulting a great artiste like Amol Palekar. That’s why the govt needs to GET OUT of art/art bodies and why they are wallowing in a swamp of decay.”
Harish adds, “When it comes to freedom of speech many things unfolded in the Baroda Fine Arts College when I was there, it indeed puts artists in a bad spot but I think with the advent of social media, the message out there is strong that art and artists need to be set free and no section of the society must question artists and their art.”
It is lonely to speak up against a collective public that continues to silence critics and opinions. One @LutyenHack posted aptly, “You know what is most shameful about this clip? That not one - not one - person sitting among the audience mumbled a word in Palekar’s defence. He must have felt so lonely.”
