Punjab Art Council awaits resuscitation

CHANDIGARH, Aug 17: It was this day last year that the Punjab Art Council slipped into oblivion. As the artist community mourns its passi...

CHANDIGARH, Aug 17: It was this day last year that the Punjab Art Council slipped into oblivion. As the artist community mourns its passing away on the first “barsi”, the chances of this phoenix rising from the ashes seem remote. For the Punjab government seems to have given it a quiet burial.

The Art Council or the Punjab Kala Parishad came into existence in 1965. A brain child of the then Chief Commissioner of Chandigarh, Dr M. S. Randhawa, the Council was set up to promote art and culture of the state. Randhawa wanted the Council to be away from the maligning tentacles of politics. But now that is exactly what the Punjab government has done to this apex body of art, play politics.

The Council is a body of 29 members and its term lasts three years. Under its wing, three academies — Punjab Lalit Kala, Sangeet Natak and Sahitya, function. Besides the three Secretaries to the Punjab government, of Finance, Education and Cultural Affairs, the Council’s members include the Vice-Chancellors of Punjabi University, PU, PAU and GNDU and one representative each from the three Central Academies, namely the Sahitya, Sangeet Natak and Lalit Kala and from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.

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Six organisations that are recognised by the Council are represented and six persons distinguished in the field of art, culture and literature are co-opted by the Council. The Achilles’ heel in the Constitution crops up in the case of the remaining three members as they are to be nominated by the state government. This provision has become a curse for the Council now as the government dilly-dallies on its formation with all the names that reach the higher echelons finding rejection on “flimsy grounds”.

For the major part of the period, Minister for Cultural Affairs Bibi Jagir Kaur has been giving elections as the reason for the delay. It was feared that forming the Counci would violate the code of conduct. But elections are over and now the intellectuals point out that the government is unable to select the team from the list provided by the Secretary of Cultural Affairs.

The names that were on the rounds were a virtual who-is-who of the Punjabi art realm. If it were Dr Harcharan Singh and Gursharan Singh, the stalwarts of Punjabi theatre earlier, the list got changed to include well-known litterateur Surjit Pattar. But Pattar did not have much inclination as he told Newsline, “I will accept the offer only if I am sure that there are like-minded people on the panel.” But Pattar is leftist, declared the selectors. “Are they nominating people to the Art Council or to the SGPC?”, wonder the critics.

Grapevine has it that the latest list includes known short-story writer Kartar Singh Duggal and sculptor Shiv Singh. Nevertheless, the one sitting at the helm of Cultural Affairs, Bibi Jagir Kaur, laughs away the questions, “You people seem to be more interested than everyone else. When we take the final decision, you will be the first one to be informed.” On an earlier occasion, when she was asked whether the list was awaiting approval of the wife and son of CM P. S. Badal, she said, “Even if it is approved by the wife or the son, it is by the family of the Chief Minister.”

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But the artist community’s patience seems to be wearing away. The constitution of the Council says that the Council shall be an autonomous and corporate body that can be sued in its corporate name.

The first to resort to reaction to the government’s inaction is the Kendriya Punjabi Rang Manch Sabha headed by theatre director Kewal Dhaliwal. According to Dhaliwal, the Manch intends to submit a memorandum to both the CM and the Minister for Cultural Affairs and if no action is taken, the Manch plans to sit in dharna.

Can they hope to awaken the government from its lethargic slumber? It looks like a Herculean task.