Where did we hear this before :-)?
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State-Sponsored Culture
T he recent controversy surrounding the just-replaced Sangeet Natak
Akademi chairperson, Sonal Mansingh, has once again brought to the
fore the growing rot in the State-sponsored institutions of culture
in our country. The appointment by the Central Government of loyal
Congressman, Ram Niwas Mirdha as the new chairperson of the Akademi
only proves how hollow are governmental claims of impartiality and
merit. The present UPA Government is trying to justify a blatantly
political appointment by blaming the previous NDA government of
creating a deadlock in the Sangeet Natak Akademi by appointing Sonal
Mansingh. While the blame game is part of change of government, the
important fact that emerges from this all is that it is high time
that there should be serious re-thinking on the role of all
State-sponsored cultural as well as research bodies which have long
started functioning like government departments having little
accountability to the people on whose taxes these are funded. While
it is true that time and again intellectuals of high calibre have
graced the different State institutions of culture and research, yet
on the whole these individuals have not succeeded in keeping these
institutions clean from the common ills that tend to affect all
government bodies. The claim that these institutions happen to enjoy
a large measure of autonomy is mere eyewash. For, to have autonomous
bodies which can function on their own right, irrespective of the
party in power, the nation as a whole must develop a mindset which
endorses individual space and encourages plurality in thought and
action. Culture, as Matthew Arnold defined it, is "the harmonious
expansion of all the powers which make the beauty and worth of human
nature" and is marked by freedom from fanaticism and tolerance of
dissent. This is possible, even if marginally, in a society which
has moved out of feudal relations of power and Arnold was writing
about an England whose entire face had been changed dramatically by
the Industrial revolution. In India today, despite an impressive
growth rate and speedy urbanization, the nation's mindset is still
very much enmeshed in a feudal warp which offers little scope to the
individual to stand up against a system. It is the system, drawing
its sustenance from feudal concepts of loyalty and obedience to the
leader or the party, which steamrolls everything into submission. In
such a situation the question of autonomy or academic freedom of
State-sponsored cultural and literary bodies just does not arise.
And, all those bright minds which receive government patronage in
the form of membership of these elite bodies know only too well that
either they fall in line with government policy or quit. The moment
the government changes, the content, course and overall quality of
these bodies are all affected. Thus, there was a time when Nehruvian
socialists and Leftists of different shades controlled these bodies.
Then came the saffronites who cried foul that a Leftist agenda was
being promoted by supposedly autonomous institutions. So the
attempts at saffronization began. And now we are going through the
phase of de-toxification headed by a minister whose only credentials
seem to lie in his unswerving loyalty to the Nehru family. The term
"detoxification" itself is so revealing of an attitude of mind which
smacks of authoritarianism and the vice-like grip of the government
over these bodies. One needs to draw from the experience of similar
State-controlled bodies in countries like the erstwhile Soviet
Union. It would, therefore, be too much to expect a party like the
Congress, which has always shown scant regard for independent
thinking and dissent, to rid these institutions of the nepotism,
ego-clashes and crass opportunism which have come to mark them.
Right from the days of Nehru, who put up such a strong liberal face
to the world, the Congress has thrived on its feudal values and
those who differed with the Congress' ideology were given little
space within the system. The right to differ and dissent which are
the hallmarks of a cultured society, was never encouraged. Rather, it
has all along actively believed in the rule by one particular family
and has equated one's loyalty to the family with loyalty to the
country. As such, it would be rather foolish to expect that the
Congress-led UPA Government will ensure the autonomy of the
State-sponsored culture and research bodies and free them from
direct political interference. Ram Niwas Mirdha being made the
chairperson of the Sangeet Natak Akademi only helps to underline
this point. The time perhaps has arrived when the country should
question itself as to whether these State-sponsored institutions of
culture and research have really outlived their purpose.
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