Team Herald
PANJIM: In a scathing attack on the State government, a delegation comprising Congress leaders and artistes visited the Kala Academy on Sunday, questioning the authorities over the recurring technical failures at Goa’s premier cultural institution and calling for the resignation of Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude.
The delegation also demanded that Minister Gaude publicly apologise to veteran actor Sharad Ponkshe and the wider artistic community for derogatorily labelling Ponkshe a ‘Suparibaaz’ following the disruption of his performance last week due to lighting issues at the Academy.
They further claimed that the renovation of the iconic institution—designed by renowned architect Charles Correa—had tarnished Goa’s reputation in the cultural domain.
“Earlier, when we used to come to Kala Academy as artistes and as audience members, the sound system was so good that even the slightest sound would be picked up,” said John Nazareth, President of the Santa Cruz Congress Committee. “Today, that capacity is missing. Art lovers pay to have a good experience here, but now it is in total mess.”
Congress leader and advocate Jitendra Gaonkar condemned the minister’s remarks and criticised the state’s apparent disregard for the efforts of the artistic community.
“Before performing on any stage, artistes rehearse for weeks or even months. We can only imagine the pain they go through when their programmes are disrupted,” he said. “But the sad part is that Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude, despite being an artiste himself, fails to understand this. On the contrary, he insults artistes by calling them ‘Suparibaaz’.”
“Does this mean that artistes cannot question the authorities? Is there no freedom of expression in the country? We live in a democratic nation. A person who questions the system should not be demeaned in this way,” Gaonkar added.
The Kala Academy has once again found itself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Just a week after technical issues disrupted a Marathi play by Sharad Ponkshe, another production—‘Shrimant Damodarpant’, featuring popular actor Bharat Jadhav—faced interruptions on Sunday when the air-conditioning system failed mid-performance.
The delegation criticised what they described as the government’s failure to ensure basic functioning infrastructure at a venue of such cultural importance, demanding immediate accountability from those responsible.