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Journalism of Courage
It was a play that would have shown a certain princess Maya,ruling a kingdom called Mayagarh,wearing expensive sandals and showered with so many gifts that she fed her elephant on gold and silver.
My Sandal was set to be staged in Lucknows Rai Uma Nath Bali Auditorium on January 28. Now,it has been denied permission by the Lucknow district administration,citing the model code of conduct.
It is inspired by real events but the play does not target anyone, says Mukesh Verma,playwright and director who has staged about 15 plays. We have been working on the play for three months and the date was decided when the model code of conduct was not in force. says Verma,adding that he had booked the theatre more than a month ago.
The play is set some 500 years ago. Its princess is Maya whom sycophant ministers always try to please with expensive gifts. In preparation for her birthday,the ministers buy a pair of expensive sandals,and deposit these where the state treasure is kept.
The princess has a favourite elephant called Eravat who feeds only on gold and silver. The mahout unwittingly feeds it with the expensive sandals,mistaking it for part of its gold diet. Realising the blunder,the ministers rush to a vaidya who treats the elephant with laxatives. In the dung comes out all the riches that the ministers had collected through corruption and fed the animal to please the princess. Seeing this,the people of the kingdom rise in revolt and attack the palace.
The rebellion wakes up the princess,who was unaware of the goings-on. One by one,the angry Maya beheads the sycophant ministers and appeals to the people to choose their king.
Verma says having read about the play,district magistrate Anil Sagar called him. When I briefed him about the play,he said the play should not be staged because the model code of conduct is in place, says Verma.
Sagar explains that as per the model code of conduct,while there can be criticism of the government or the system,there should not be any comment on any individual political leader,directly or indirectly. It is evident that it is not proper to stage it while the model code of conduct is in place, Sagar says.
The DM stresses the play has not been banned; its staging has only been postponed till the model code of conduct is in place.
Verma says the DM should have at least read the script. I will change the names if that is a problem. But if the theme itself is a trouble then it is a different matter, he says. We will stage it after the elections.
Vinod Mishra,secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Kalakar Association,finds the restriction strange when political leaders,in their speeches,criticise and blame their rivals regularly. A performance of a theatre group in a closed auditorium should not be stopped. But we do not want to make it an issue, he says.
