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Goa's BJP govt censured for attempt to censor popular theatre
The BJP-led Goa government's
third attempt in the last one year to censor a nearly tiatr or teatro, a
century-old street theatre form, has triggered outrage in the
influential theatre community and invited flak from the opposition.
While
the opposition has accused the Goa government of being dictatorial,
over 400 tiatr performers, including the biggest exponents of the
organic performing art form, have accused the government of muzzling
freedom of expression. The controversy comes at a time when
newly-appointed Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairperson
Pankaj Nihalani has issued a controversial diktat blacklisting
'offensive' words from Indian films.
"Any move to have this
censored in advance will kill the very spirit and the nature of this art
form," Francis de Tuem, a popular tiatrist who has in the past been
arrested for allegedly defamatory songs, told IANS. He is one of the 400
tiatr performers who signed a memorandum earlier this week swearing to
oppose what they call a draconian move by the government.
For
thousands of Goans, especially Catholics, a tiatr is more than just a
play or a theatre outing. With its socially and politically relevant and
organic themes, watching a tiatr show on weekends, religious feast days
and holidays is like watching their own lives play out under bright
lights, mixed with a bit of banter and slapstick fun and a touch of
tragedy.
Tiatrs are usually made up of two components - the play
and the songs between acts. These are necessarily unconnected to each
other. Interestingly, the roots of the tiatr are embedded not in an
Indian art form, but owes its inspiration to Italian operettas which
were a rage in colonial India, especially in Bombay (now Mumbai) right
from the late 1800s.
Which is why the BJP-ruled government's move
to enact the "Goa Licensing and Controlling Places Of Public Amusement
(Other Than Cinema) and Performances for Public Amusement Rules 2015"
has set the proverbial alarm bells ringing. Director of Information and
Publicity Arvind Bugde has already confirmed to the media that the
government has begun a "process to analyse whether there is a need to
have a censor board or not, to monitor tiatr and Marathi drama in the
state".
"There is no doubt that this is an attempt to muzzle the
right to free expression, especially when exposing the misdeeds and
scandals of politicians and governments," Oscar Rebello, a member of the
AAP, told IANS.
This is not the first time that attempts have
been made by the present government to control tiatrs. Last August,
during a discussion in the assembly, legislators, including Caitu Silva
of the Goa Vikas Party, claimed they had been personally targeted during
tiatr performances and had demanded that the art form should be reined
in.
Later, right wing Hindu outfit Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS)
submitted a memorandum to the government seeking a censor board keep a
check on tiatrs and 'nataks'.
The demand was made in the wake of a
tiatr titled 'Atakvadi Goeant Naka' (Say no to terrorists in Goa) which
purportedly was about Sri Ram Sene Chief Pramod Muthalik, notorious for
attacks on pub-goers in Mangalore. The tiatr was enacted at a time when
Muthalik announced that he was planning to open a branch of his outfit
in Goa.
Around the same time, Ravindra Bhavan, a
government-promoted art centre and popular venue for tiatr performances,
issued a draft circular which required tiatrists to submit their script
prior to the performance for vetting and an official clearance.
The
move was hastily withdrawn, again under public pressure. Now, the
Congress has charged the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government
with being dictatorial in its repeated efforts to stifle the popular
art form.
"Tiatr are in fact public censors for what is wrong in
society. The government will have to face a backlash from the Congress,
as well as the tiatrists (tiatr-performers) if they go ahead with this
dictatorial decision," Congress spokesperson Agnelo Fernandes told IANS.
The BJP has, however, rejected the allegations, claiming no move is
afoot to control live stage performances.
"Neither the government
nor the BJP as a party have anything on our minds about censoring
tiatr. This is just a figment of imagination used by the opposition to
attack the party," BJP state vice president Wilfred Mesquita told IANS.
(Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayahushan.n@ians