Nangare Setup Art Directorate For Trade!

Just like the famous monologue in the play ‘NataSamrat’, ‘Ghar deta kuni ghar…’ (Could anyone provide a home?), now it is the turn of the Directorate of Art and the Department of Higher and Technical Education to say ‘Could anyone provide an Art Director?’. What was sown by the corrupt officers of the Higher and Technical Education Department in the last thirty-five years has now sprouted. Satish Naik, the editor of ‘Chinha’, will be writing a special series reviewing the numerous scandals in the Directorate of Art, every Monday to Friday for a month starting September 1st . Here is the fourth part of the series.

What I wrote yesterday was also written once before. Maybe written even two or three times earlier, I don’t remember now. In the year 2008, when I published the issue ‘Kalabazaar’, I had written the entire incident mentioning the name of Dr Aroon Tikekar. But no clarification came from him. There was not even a simple message, let alone a clarification. From this it was obvious that he must have accepted the accusations I had made.

I mentioned that news in 1996 in 2008. By then a lot of water had flowed from under the bridge. The Directorate of Art was in a state of disarray. Same was the case with JJ School of Art. And the same was happening with the other three government art colleges. But then this whole matter had not blown to such an extent. In the last 27 years, the consequences of that fake news of Loksatta have started to be felt in a very horrible way. The Directorate of Art or JJ School of Art or Art education of Maharashtra is not worth even a cent in the field of art. All this is the result of the fake news of Loksatta.

Today, there is no suitable candidate available for the post of Art Director. A principal of the College of Architecture named Rajeev Mishra has been appointed to this post without having any qualification in the field of art. I first approached him about five-six years ago as I wanted some rare photographs for the book ‘JJ Jagi Jagle’. At that time, he had invited me to come to the office. I went to that office for the first time after so many years after 1985. I did not get the photographs for which I had gone, but got to see that under the table where this gentleman, who served as the in-charge Art Director of Maharashtra, was sitting, the paintings of famous painters like Haldankar and Gurjar were standing covered in dust. If the Art Director of Maharashtra himself is working with the paintings of such great painters under his feet, should one expect him to ever improve the art of Maharashtra? I had this question in my mind then.

Sadwelkar stepped down from the post of Art Director in 1986. After that Prof. Shantinath Arwade managed the administration reasonably well. He retired in 1989. And after that, the games of politicians started in this field too. The appointment of Prof Muralidhar Nangare as Art Director was the most unfortunate incident in the history of the Directorate of Art. This man literally put the art department to business! He left nothing that can be done wrong. This is where the plight of the Directorate of Art began. The clerks in the Directorate of Art took advantage of the situation which arose by bringing an idiotic person to the post of Art Director. It would have been a wonder if a maniac like Mr Rasal had not taken advantage of all this.

This man obtained the post of Deputy Art Director by producing a fake caste certificate. And seeing the poor intellectual level of the teachers in the art field who sat on the post of Art Director, he took over all the affairs of the Directorate of Art and turned it into a hive of corruption. The governments of the Congress NCP party that came after the coalition government (Yuti Shasan) almost fueled all this. During the tenure of Education Minister Dilip Valase Patil, who was in charge for the later nine years, this department was virtually destroyed. I had depicted all the trouble that the employees of Valase Patal’s office created in the Art Directorate in the ‘Kaalabazaar’ issue of ‘Chinha’. So I don’t want to repeat that matter here. For those who are curious, we have placed the PDF of the issue on the website of ‘Chinha’, we have also given its link at the end of the article. Do read that issue by clicking on that link.  We had literally torn apart everyone concerned, mentioning their names.

However, not even their hair was bent. Because everyone from top to bottom were involved in this corruption. The Directorate of Art was established in 1965. With great foresight and vision, the then Education Minister Madhukarrao Choudhari had established this department with the help of Dada Adarkar. It was rather more important as the only department in India established to invigorate painting and art education in Maharashtra. It is a fact that even after so many years, no other state in India has been able to establish such a department. That is why the importance of the Directorate of Art is supreme. But unfortunately the later ministers of that department never realized that. That’s why today the time has come for the Higher and Technical Education Department to plead, “Could anyone please provide an Art Director?” And what is responsible for all this is the very fake news given by Dr Aroon Tikekar when he was the editor of Loksatta. I am going to write in detail about the consequences of this news. But for now, I’ll stop here.

The ‘Kalabazaar’ issue of ‘Chinha’ published in 2008 has been made available by ‘Chinha’ on its website. Please click on the following link and read the issue for free. https://chinha.in/2008_edition

Satish Naik

Editor, ‘Chinha Art News’