New Delhi: The National School of Drama (NSD), India’s premier cradle for theatre training, found itself in a row last week over an event organised by RSS-backed organisations to mark Independence Day.
Soon after students protested against the event, allegedly on the grounds that any event that has “no relation to art and academics” at NSD should not be held in the auditorium ‘Abhimanch’, registrar Jwala Prasad was removed on 7 August.
However, following Prasad’s protest about the “arbitrary removal” — voiced in a letter to the Union government — he was reinstated on 12 August.
In its letter, the culture ministry — under whose purview the autonomous NSD functions — said Prasad’s removal didn’t follow due process.
Reached for comment, NSD Director Ramesh Gaur told ThePrint that “no one was sacked as such and we were merely following procedure”.
While Prasad said his removal “reeks of malintent”, he added that a “procedural anomaly may have affected the administration’s decision”.
“Technically, my tenure was supposed to be extended by a year and my parent body Delhi University is the approving authority. There were several holidays in between and perhaps that is why there was a delay (in approval). That could have convinced the NSD administration to remove me,” he added.
Prasad said it is in August-September that the process for term renewal usually takes place.
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What happened
The event in question was organised by an RSS-backed forum comprising a medical professionals’ body and the Sangh-affiliate NGO Seva Bharati on 7 August. The objective was to honour volunteers who helped during the pandemic.
According to students present at the occasion, national flags had been placed outside the auditorium.
A volunteer from Seva Bharati told ThePrint: “The students suddenly became aggressive and started shifting all the arrangements to another location. When we tried to record this on camera, they started arguing further. It was shameful and shocking.”
The NSD students’ union refutes the claim and said the “event was not even about the national flag”.
In a public statement, the union said: “We had no issue with the function, (but) only with the space in which the function was going to happen. In recent times students have been required to follow a procedure to use the auditorium.
“When we heard about the event — which is now being addressed as ‘tiranga event’ — we had discussions with the production department, dean and director and they made it clear that none of them were aware of the programme arrangements, and not any permission was given for the space and technicalities. It was a private function under the banner of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.”
A member of the NSD students’ union alleged that the registrar had, in the recent past, “started refusing access to auditoriums to students while permitting external government events to take place”.
Prasad, meanwhile, spoke of allegations that “our national flag was removed by the students [at the event in question] and that was shameful”. He added, however, that he was not present during the event.
The registrar said he was “not the wholesale authority or the only representative” of the institute’s administration.
“There are people above and below me as well,” he added. “We have to remember that this property belongs to the government, not just to the students and faculty. Such events have been taking place so there was nothing new. If the ministry decides to organise an event, then why should we resist it without any reason? I even checked the calendar… I knew that there was no activity lined up for the students on that day.”
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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