Eminent classical dancer Mallika Sarabhai had to perform on Saturday outside the Ramappa Temple in Warangal district of Telangana – the scheduled venue for an event – after Union culture minister G Kishan Reddy denied permission for her show inside the premises, reports said.
The Kakatiya Heritage Trust, which manages the temple, had asked for permission for the event from the Archaeological Survey of India, The Indian Express reported.
“We invited Sarabhai to perform and she agreed,” BV Papa Rao, one of the trustees of the Kakatiya Heritage Trust, told the newspaper. “They [ASI] did not formally reply on the application for permission but the culture minister [Reddy] told us orally himself that they won’t be granting permission because it’s Mallika Sarabhai.”
On Friday, Sarabhai had also written on Facebook that the culture minister had denied permission for her performance.
Unidentified officials of the Archaeological Survey of India told The Indian Express that the organisers had cancelled the event. However, the archaeology body and the culture ministry have not issued an official statement on the matter.
Sarabhai, one of the most eminent proponents of Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi dance forms, has been a critical of the Narendra Modi government and the Hindutva ideology.
As recently as last week, she had voiced her concerns, while speaking at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival in Kolkata on January 15.
“What I am witnessing around today completely decimates me,” she had said, according to PTI. “Never had I thought there will be complete destruction of our ideals in India, and so many people blinded by the glory of advertisement and brand-building.”
The dancer had also said that while Hinduism allowed asking questions, Hindutva was being “shoved down the throat” of the people of India.
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