IPTA in Jabalpur (part two)

As the bus started for Bhopal from Jabalpur, a powerful song repeating Hyderabad several times broke out from the back seats. It was thunderous song full of vigour which took all other Baraatis by surprise. My relatives, mostly from villages, were intrigued by what the song was about. The time was June 28, 1986 night. Next day world cup football final was slated between Argentina and Brazil apart from my seven feras with Jaya.

The bus was carrying the baraat of which I was the groom and the singers were my friends from Vivechana (IPTA). The song was a rather long- lingering hangover of the IPTA convention in Hyderabad. An energetic group from Patna had composed the song as homage to Hyderabad, recalling the tempestuous event of Telangana communist uprising of late fifties. The Hyderabad meet was, in a way, turning point in the IPTA movement.

On the day AK Hangal died recently, Hyderabad persistently came to my mind. It was in this beautiful city in (1985? or 1986?) that I had gone with a Vivechana team to take part in the IPTA meet. We were equipped with revolutionary people’s songs. After the revival of IPTA in Jabalpur PWA meet of which I talked in the first part, it was first national meet for us.

We were naturally bubbling with enthusiasm. AK Hangal, Kaifi Azmi, Farooq Sheikh, Sagar Sarhadi (his film ‘Bazaar’ was critically acclaimed in that period) were all there. We shared dais filmmaker Shyam Benegal and comrade AB Bardhan. Vivechana was one of the few privileged groups which was given an opportunity to present songs on the stage. Clad in dark red IPTA T-shirts we sang with full throated voice, ‘Uthao Toofan Palat Do Sari Duniya (raise a storm and change the world).  What an exhilarating feeling it was!  A visibly moved Shyam Benegal came to us to congratulate on the stage.

But excitement is not what I remember the Hyderabad meet for. It is more for the way AK Hangal was unjustly pilloried that I recall Hyderabad more vividly.

On the second day of the IPTA convention at CPI state office, delegates deliberated extensively. A resolution was passed and members were called upon to speak on it. Apparently, the resolution had the clear stamp of the old guards like AK Hangal.

When it came to debate on the resolution, some young members bitterly criticized it for lacking clear ideological direction. The tone and tenor of the anti-resolution was dismaying to me. Although barely 26 then, I firmly believed that art must not be shackled by political ideology, be it CPI, CPM or any other of the left outfits. Most vociferous among the critics were from Bihar and UP.

AK Hangal tried to remove their misgivings but he was virtually shouted down. The scene, as I recall it, was pathetic. Here was a veteran who lived all his life for IPTA values and he was being ridiculed over semantic quibbling in the draft of the resolution. One activist found serious fault in the very wordings of the draft which, however, I found quite lucid. Arun Pandey was with me and he shared my feelings. Other friends from Vivechana, mostly neophytes in IPTA ideology, thought otherwise, though they had no convincing arguments to back their opposition.

I am highlighting the Hyderabad episode because this dialectics of art versus political ideology seems to have always dogged the IPTA. Art demands autonomy within broad ideological moorings underpinning it. Left parties seek to make art a propagandist tool to further their interests which may , at times, clash with the very essence of true art.

Even before the IPTA was revived, Vivechana faced this crisis. CPI, Jabalpur unit, would doubt ideological commitment of some of our key members, both in their personal conviction and their artistic expression. However, to be fair to the CPI bosses, the problem never assumed any serious proportion. The communist party kept a dignified distance from Vivechana.

One instance deserves mention in this regard. We had produced ‘Sagina Mehto’ (a play on which a film was also made featuring Dilip Kumar in lead role). I essayed Sagina’s character. The play is about how a rustic but powerful trade union leader is sought to be corrupted by the system dominated by capitalism. Alok Chaterjee, then an artiste in Bharat Bhavan repertory, directed the play.

It was quite a nice production. But Praveen Atloori, then AISF state secretary ( or president?) didn’t like the play, not because it was badly produced; his objection to the play was for its alleged anti-communist undertone. He wrote a long article in CPI’s Hindi mouthpiece ‘ Jan Yug’ , questioning Vivechana’s rationale in choosing such a “ reactionary” play for production. The article dwelled mostly on Sagina Mehto’s ‘individualistic approach’ which Atloori found to be militating against communist trade unionism. He concluded by saying Vivechana should be more cautious in choosing plays. I was Atloori’s good friend. We didn’t mind his well-meaning , if misplaced, criticism of the play. Incidentally, Atloori was a great fan of one of our early plays ‘Darinde’ which, in his view, conformed to all the requirements of a revolutionary theatre. The play indeed was very popular, though it somewhat lacked aesthetic finesse.

                On again, it is time to wrap up. For, I have decided not to let any blog exceed 1000 words.

If any body cared to read this, he /she is requested to wait for more on IPTA in next blog