Delhi University’s prestigious Ramjas College,which caused a turmoil in India last Month,is once again in the news as 4 Plays themed on Nationalism were cancelled during its annual street play festival ‘MUKHATIB 2017′,organised by Shunya-The Theatre Society of Ramjas College on Friday 31st March 2017.
The cancelled 4 plays out of 7 were: Dyal Singh College’s “Jokistan”, Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce’s “Sawaal to Uthega hi”, SGTB Khalsa College’s play “Trump Card” and Gargi Colleges’ perfomance on “Main Kashmir aur aap? Main Manipur”.
Out of seven teams only three teams were allowed to perform.Lady Shri Ram College did not perform as a mark of protest while Miranda House and Kirori Mal College went ahead with their performances “Hadsa-e-Paidaish” and “The Accidental Death of an Anarchist” respectively.
The performers staged a protest for about 10 minutes today sealing their mouth with black tape against the cancellation of the play.
Member of theatre societies alleged that college administration cancelled the plays as their subjects were “sensitive”,whereas the principal maintained it was students decision and not the authorities.
A member of Ramjas Dramatic’s Society said-“Our administration asked us to present the scripts to them,after presenting the scripts,we were asked to cancel the performance of four plays as their subjects were related to nationalism,freedom of speech and the evergreen issue of Kashmir.”
The acting principle PC Tulsiyan refused the allegations and aid-“It is not the administration but the students of Ramjas Theatre Society,who cancelled the plays.We had just asked them to not include anything which may disrupt the peaceful atmosphere of the college.”
Shunya-The Theatre Society of Ramjas College is not seemed to be satisfied by the administration,so they condemned what happened at Mukhatib2017 in their FB post of April 1,2017-
हम नाटक वाले नुक्कड़ नाटकों को बहुत अहमियत देते है ं। A street play is almost a performed protest,everytime it happens.We condemn this censorship but not with violence; with love, songs and art. The DU theatre circuit has tasted solidarity and we will not step back.
#absawaltohuthega
Mukhatib mubarak, chuppi mubarak.
Last month,Ramjas College was in news due to a clash between AISA and ABVP student over inviting Umar Khalid(JNU student who was sent to jail last year under sedition charge) for a seminar organised by the English department.
