Kolkata: A month after Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said that the party will not tolerate any “overreach” by a section of “ultra BJP” at Academy of Fine Arts, theatre workers and members of group theatres repainted the “defaced walls” white on Tuesday. BJP on Tuesday said that the party had nothing to do with “the defacing or repainting”.
The incident goes back to July when a ticket room near the entrance of Academy of Fine Arts was painted saffron without any “formal executive approval”. Prominent actors, directors, playwrights and theatre workers including Bibhash Chakraborty and Chandan Sen condemned the act. They wrote a letter to the state govt, trustee board of Academy and Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya. Bhattacharya called the act an artistic distortion of a heritage space and said that BJP was not in favour of any overreach in the cultural field.
Bhattacharya also said that there could be a section that had become ultra-BJP, which could have done that. “He had sought 15 days from us after he condemned the act. However, we have not seen any effort to reverse the change. Representatives from more than 100 group theatres gathered at the spot on Tuesday and repainted the controversial structure white,” said thespian Chandan Sen.
The ticket counter had seen intrusions even during the Trinamool regime with former minister Madan Mitra holding meetings of INTTUC there. With the change in regime, the terracotta colour was suddenly changed by a section of people. Bhattacharya, who met representatives of the theatre workers and actors after the complaint, had said that those who have done it have made a mistake. BJP does not believe in the politics of changing colours.
“Personally, I don’t have any issue with the ticket counter being painted saffron or photograph of Bharat Mata hung over it. Nothing can be changed simply by changing colours. But the defacing was done somewhat forcibly and that is not acceptable to theatre workers,” said Sen.
CPM leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya was present at the spot while the theatre workers were repainting the walls. “There is no relation between colour and art, culture or civilization. There was an assurance to restore the original colour within 15 days. But as no action was taken, the artists changed the color themselves,” he said.
“We don’t have any role in either painting it saffron or repainting it white. Those who had changed the colour should be bothered by it. However, people watch everything. They noticed those who painted it saffron and those who repainted it white,” said Bengal BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar.