Protests are brewing against the Kerala government’s decision to pay Mallika Sarabhai two lakh rupees monthly to continue as Kerala Kalamandalam Chancellor. Critics point out that Kalamandalam is facing an additional cost of 24 lakh rupees per year during a financial crisis.
Kerala Kalamandalam is a major centre for learning our performing arts, especially those developed in the country’s southern states, emphasising those from Kerala. Students are imparted systematic training in Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, Kudiyattam, Panchavadyam, Thullal, Mridangam, Karnatic music and their sub-divisions such as vocal music, instrumental music, make-up and costuming through rigorous training and performance.
Kerala Kalamandalam was inaugurated in November 1930 and is situated on the banks of the Bharathapuzha river in Cheruthuruthi, near Shoranur in Thrissur district. Kalamandalam is an institution aided by the Cultural Affairs Department of the Government of Kerala.
In 2006, the Government of Bharat granted Kerala Kalamandalam the status of ‘Deemed University for Art and Culture’. In 2010, the University Grants Commission gave an A status, and it is the only university in Kerala state that has been accorded the prestigious status. As a Deemed-to-be University, Kerala Kalamandalam offers graduate, post-graduate, and PhD research programs and secondary and higher secondary courses under one roof.
The Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM)-led Left government appointed Mallika Sarabhai as the chancellor of Kalamandalam to remove Governor Arif Mohammad Khan from the post of chancellor. It has since become a den for urban naxals trying to push their ideologies and propaganda. Naturally, education has taken a backfoot.
‘Activist’ Mallika Sarabhai is a classical dancer and actress from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She is the daughter of a classical dancer, Mrinalini Sarabhai, and space scientist, Vikram Sarabhai. Mallika is a Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam dancer and performer who has specialised in the leftist propaganda of using the arts for ‘social change.’
Sarabhai tried her luck against then Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, L K Advani, for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate in the 2009 general election. While Advani garnered 4 lakh 35 thousand odd votes, Sarabhai got less than 10 thousand and forfeited her election deposit.
Sarabhai had several offers from Congress to contest elections, the first being in 1984 from Rajiv Gandhi. However, she refused to join any political party, claiming all parties were corrupt. Sarabhai joined the Aam Aadmi Party in January 2014.
Sarabhai protested against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and accused him of ‘scuttling’ the petition filed in the Supreme Court by her on the 2002 Gujarat violence.
The Government of Gujarat awarded her the Gaurav Puraskar sometime in the 1990s. Mallika Sarabhai was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2010. Mrinalini Sarabhai was awarded the Padma Shri in 1965 and the Padma Bhushan in 1992.
Sarabhai is the cousin of CPM politburo member Subhashini Ali, daughter of her mother’s sister, Captain Lakshmi Sehgal (née Dr. Lakshmi Swaminathan) and Colonel Prem Sehgal.
The Congress’ love for urban Naxals is as old as Jawaharlal Nehru and is well documented. So is their history of cooperation with Green communists, Islamic extremists, Marxists and Maoists. Nehru and Indira Gandhi utilised them to rewrite and justify Mughal/English atrocities against Bharat.
Sarabhai was named Kalamandalam chancellor by the Kerala state government in 2022. Her appointment came after the Governor was removed from the chancellorship. The CPM government then said that appointing new chancellors would not cause any financial burden.
The Pinarayi government gave Sarabhai the post of chancellor to induct their favourites and affiliates. In the first phase of her Kalamandalam appointment, the CPM leaders and the government claimed she would not be paid any salary. It was introduced as a free service provided by a famous dancer. But now, Sarabhai herself asked the government to give her an allowance of three lakh rupees per month.
But all the conditions were discarded, and a Kerala government order sanctioning two lakh rupees was issued recently. Following this, the government provided a monthly allowance of Rs 1.75 lakh and Rs 25,000 for car rental.
There is now a widespread protest against this. Left-wing cultural activists have also protested the government’s decision.
Former Kalamandalam registrar N R Grama Prakash strongly objected to the State Government’s decision to pay Kerala Kalamandalam Chancellor Mallika Sarabhai’s salary, stating that paying someone who has not done any work is inappropriate. Additionally, he maintained that her only qualification is that she is a Bharatanatyam dancer.
No rupee was lost as an extra expenditure when the Governor was Chancellor. Critics also point out that Rs 24 lakh per year is not affordable for the art community.
Due to the financial crisis, the salaries of Kalamandalam’s employees, including teachers and staff, have been overdue for several months. The decision will cripple the Kalamandalam financially. The staff are angry at the government for releasing repeated payments to the chancellor. A Save University Campaign has also been launched against the order.
Critics also point out that despite paying this much, Sarabhai’s services are unavailable for Kalamandalam. She has been criticised for being more interested in politics than art. She visited Kalamandalam only for a few days.
The chancellor visits the university once or twice a month. The university provides flight tickets and hotel rent. In addition, Sarabhai demanded three lakh rupees from the university registrar, saying it was for honorarium and office requirements. Since the order is implemented retroactively, the government must allocate half a crore rupees more.
Sarabhai has stated that the ideals of the country are being destroyed and that Hindutva is being forced on people in the name of Hinduism. She believes that this is not the true nature of Hinduism but rather a distorted version of it.
BJP leader Roopa Ganguly stated that Sanatana Dharma is a religion and a lifestyle closely intertwined with nature. The only difference between Hindutva and Hinduism is the language in which they are expressed. Hindutva is a Hindi word, while Hinduism is an English term.
While speaking in Kolkata, Sarabhai said she is happy to see people of different religions living side by side. “I don’t see similarly in Gujarat, in Ahmedabad, where ghettoisation seems to be so complete,” the liberal added.
Nobody knows where she met Hindus and Muslims living peacefully in Kolkata. Like other communists and liberals, Sarabhai missed all the riots, rapes and targeted attacks on Hindus in Bengal.
Her home city, Ahmedabad, has a history of communal riots dating as far back as the 80s, well before the Godhra incident.
Hindus are the most laid-back people; they sincerely try to understand others and modify themselves as needed. The issue emerges when others want to control them, seeing this courtesy as a weakness on their behalf.
One can only take it so far. After that, the aggressors must be informed that courtesies should not be misused. However, if they continue their actions, then caution must be issued. After that, one must get to their feet and retaliate.
Even now, seventy-five years after independence, Hindus in their own country are regarded as second-class citizens. Affluent Hindus like Sarabhai are protected from the daily conflicts that ordinary Hindus face everywhere.
She is rubbing into the general population, which bears the brunt of the cultural friction heating up. At least she can empathise with her ilk and not blame Hindus.
Islamist violence has forced Ahmedabad into a high polarisation. The new and old cities are on each side of a river. The new town is costly and is more developed. Different communities live in their type of societies and stick to their areas. Naturally, Hindus reject rental offers from Islamists.
Using her father’s name, Sarabhai has allegedly acquired free property in prime areas of Ahmedabad, mainly allowing elites entry.
Sarabhai claimed several of her friends (certain suspicious human rights advocates) had been taken into custody and were currently awaiting trial for merely inquiring about some issues.
Teesta Setalvad, with support from Amnesty International, tried to implicate the Gujarat government functionaries in the 2002 Gujarat Riots. Setalvad and her cronies criminally conspired and sought a criminal trial of Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, and 62 other politicians and government officials for alleged complicity in the Gujarat violence of 2002.
Supreme Court granted her interim bail on the ground that Setalvad was a woman. The Gujarat High Court subsequently refused her regular bail and ordered her to surrender right away; this decision was deemed “totally perverse” and “contradictory” by the Supreme Court, which granted Setalvad regular bail in July 2023. She was in custody for barely two months.
In 2003, Gujarat police filed a case of cheating against Sarabhai based on a complaint filed by a dance troupe member after a trip to the US for a cultural performance did not materialise.
Sarabhai proved her wokeism when she danced in front of her mother’s dead body in early 2016.
The dancer used the opportunity to hit out at Prime Minister Modi, claiming that he had not paid tributes to her mother, Mrinalini, on her death. In fact, Modi had condoled the death and wrote a letter to her son Kartikeya Sarabhai expressing grief. When contacted, Kartikeya said that he had received hundreds of messages and did not know yet if there was a message from the PM.
Sarabhai is a failed politician and activist who has done nothing beneficial for society. Is she now trying to extort money from Kerala’s public coffers?
