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Apart from this, he views the crisis as an internal problem,
aggravated by several actions of successive governments at the
Centre and in the state. He recounts the setting up of a
Constituent Assembly in the state which ratified the state’s
accession to India and which also includes sections dealing with
state territory, permanent residents and the relationship of the
state with the Centre. Thus he points out that the people of
Jammu and Kashmir have finally settled the controversy regarding
accession through a Constituent Assembly made up of their
elected representatives. A plebiscite on this issue thus becomes
irrelevant. At the same time he points out the anomaly of there
being two constitutions in the country, one for Jammu and
Kashmir and the other for the rest of the country.
About the Jammu
and Kashmir Assembly’s resolution demanding the pre-1953
situation he points out that it negates the very constitutional
validity of the state assembly which is elected under the state
constitution adopted in 1957. The State Autonomy Committee
report, the author maintains, is an unconvincing and poorly
drafted document. It demands implementation of an ‘agreement’
which does not exist, suppresses some vital facts and levels
vague charges against the Centre.
He goes on to
count the ‘follies’ of the Indian Government in handling the
Kashmir issue, beginning with the decision to go to the UN,
which was afflicted by superpower rivalries, to making a
complaint about a ‘dispute’ and not ‘aggression’, to
declaring a ceasefire when the raiders were on the run and the
Indian Army was in a position to clear the entire state of the
raiders. He also mentions two missed opportunities to settle the
question finally — once when President Ayub Khan made an offer
to Nehru and the other after the 1971 war.
Another folly, he
points out, was the introduction of Article 370 in the
Constitution of India, giving a special status to the state. He
strongly advocates repudiation of this section but is aware of
the fact that this can be done only with a two-thirds majority
in Parliament. Continuing on the ‘follies’, Chitkara points
at the dominance of the Kashmir region over the other two parts
of the state. Even the concessions given on account of militancy
go only to the Kashmiris, leaving the Jammuites and the Ladakhis
high and dry, when all regions have been affected by militancy.
He goes on to count the number of schools, colleges, hospitals,
etc., in the three regions to prove his point, and finds
trifurcation of the state the only sensible solution. In short,
anyone who wants to have an idea of the Sangh Parivar’s
perception of the Kashmir problem, will find a handy capsule in
this book.
Birju Maharaj
by Leela
Venkataraman, and Kelucharan Mohapatra by Sharon Lowen. Roli
Books, New Delhi. Pages 16 (text) + 24 photographs each. Price
not mentioned.
Sixteen pages of
text and a bunch of photographs printed exquisitely on thick art
paper is an apt description of these books. The fact that the
printing was done in Singapore testifies to its quality. But one
wishes that the authors had given the readers more than just a
sketchy description of the two living legends of Indian
classical dance. They represent two different styles. Birju
Maharaj excels in Kathak while Kelubabu, as he is popularly
known, has no peer in the Odissi style of dancing. But the
similarity almost ends here. While Birju Maharaj belongs to a
family of dancers and had the full support of his family, young
Kelucharan faced stiff opposition from his father to the idea of
the young boy becoming a dancer. Himself a musician, Kelucharan’s
father did not object to his son becoming a stage actor. Thus,
while young Birju grew up amidst the jingle of ankle bells and
the rhythm of tabla, young Kelu had to risk his father’s wrath
to join a class of ‘Gotipua’ a kind of devotional dance
performed by boys dressed as girls. He was packed off to a
theatre company to learn acting.
Before Birju was
seven, he was travelling with his father and impressing
audiences with his brief appearances before the main performance
by his well-known father, Achhan Maharaj.
Kelucharan,
starting with roles in Ras Leela, ultimately grew into the main
figure in the revival of the almost forgotten dance tradition of
Odissi. But he had to pass through some really hard times. At
the age of 19, he had to work as a betel-leaf cultivator and a
water carrier till he found a drummer’s job with Orissa
Theatres.
Birju’s family
also saw difficult times after the death of his father. He then
moved to Mumbai under the tutelage of his uncle Lachhu Maharaj.
He was offered a teacher’s job in Sangeet Bharati and later he
became a teacher at Bharatiya Kala Kendra in New Delhi. When the
Kathak wing of the kendra became an independent institution,
Birju Maharaj became the head of its faculty.
Though Birju
Maharaj has dominated the Kathak scene in India, he has not been
honoured with any award, while Kelubabu has been the recipient
of the Sangeet Natak Academy Award, the Madhya Pradesh K alidas
Award and the national honours of Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and
Padma Vibhushan. Now at the age of 60, Birju Maharaj has the
ambition of running his school, Kalashram, on the gurukul
pattern. Kelubabu also has his dance academy which he has named
‘Srijan’.
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