New Delhi: Days after photos of 90-year-old Odissi dancer and Padma Shri awardee, Guru Mayadhar Raut’s eviction from his government-allotted bungalow in Delhi’s Asian Games Village went viral earlier this week, the Modi government is pushing ahead with evictions of other Padma awardees from their government accommodations.
On Tuesday, photos of Raut, who had received a Padma Shri in 2010, being helped out of his residence went viral across media, drawing public outcry. Photos of his Padma award, and other belongings, lying on thee road were shared.
In 2014, the Modi government stopped renewing the three-year terms on which many eminent artists (Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan recipients) were allotted government accommodations under guidelines issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in 1985. The accommodations were given to them under the’ Eminent Artists’ category, on the basis of a decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Accommodation (CCA).
The artists paid the government a nominal rent for the houses.
Before that year, the terms would be renewed regularly. Of the 28 artists living in such accommodations then, many have already left. The government has announced Monday as the last day for those who are yet to leave these accommodations. Others who were yet to vacate included dancer Bharati Shivaji, renowned painter Jatin Das, classical singer Wasifuddin Dagar, and legendary Kathak dancer Birju Maharaj, who died in January.
“The CCA regularised their (the artist’s) unauthorised occupation period (from 2014) till 30 September, 2020 and then a further three months’ retention was granted, till 31 December 2020, for them to make alternative arrangements,” Yogesh Baweja, main spokesperson MoHUA, told ThrPrint.
But even when such arrangements have been made, leaving behind the house that they have called home for years, makes the shift difficult for these artists and their families.
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Memories crowd an empty flat
Vedabrata Rao, son of dancers Guru Jayarama Rao and Vanashree Rao, had come to visit the house in Asian Games Village one last time with his fiancee, when ThePrint caught up with him Friday. His parents have both moved in with him at his Green Park residence.
Guru Jayarama Rao who had come to Delhi in 1969, was amongst the first exponents of Kuchipudi dance in Delhi, claimed his son.
“My parents were allotted this house in 1987 and all good things happened to them when they stayed here. I have lived in this house all my life, there are so many memories here,” said Vedabrata, a brand strategist.
Looking around the now-empty flat, he recalled how he and his father would light candles across the balcony on Diwali. “It was one little thing we did every year,” he said.
Disregard to art and artists
“We are not even a handful to fight (the government), considering how they have treated farmers (a reference to the farmers’ agitation against the now-repealed three controversial farm laws),” claimed Dagar, 54.
He added: “We never wanted to fight, but nobody was willing to even meet us. This is not the right way to deal with artists.”
Stressing the need to save the country’s art and culture, Dagar said “Saving artists will save art. Don’t just remember the old people who have passed on their legacy to people like us.”
Blaming the artists community as a whole for not standing up against these issues, Shivaji said, “I feel stabbed in the back by the government. We have done our bit for the country and at this stage of our lives, is this how we should be treated?”
The 74-year-old dancer added, “I am not even talking about the government right now, nobody from the artists community has raised a single voice against this. It’s a huge disrespect from the government to us.”
Close to Dagar’s house, is the one in which Kathak exponent Geetanjali Lal once lived. While she has already vacated her house, a musical instrument and a copy of the Bhagwat Gita lie discarded in the veranda of her house.
“One of the main concerns for an artist today is to keep the art form alive. There is a sense of what kind of precedence this sets for the future,” rued Vedabrata.
‘Owe it to my students’
Under the new government policy, up to 40 artists, who earn less than Rs 20,000 per month, are eligible for government-allotted residence under a special quota in the ‘general pool of residential accommodation’.
Dagar believes that he, along with other artists, received the houses because of the work they did, “We were just asking them to review why they are abolishing the allotments,” he said.
The classical singer who was shifting his belongings to a temporary accommodation in Gurgaon Friday, said he owed it to his thoughtful students, who have offered a place to stay for the time being.
“I have been living here for the past 20 years and it’s very difficult to uproot myself from here. But hanks to my students and their parents I will be shifting to a student’s house in Gurgaon for a while,” Dagar said.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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