‘Good artist should have the courage to both believe and doubt his truth’
CHANDIGARH: “We are destroying a lot of institutions selectively by giving them unaware and unqualified people as heads,” were the words of Ashok Vajpeyi at the inauguration of Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi’s Annual Art Exhibition 2018.
The renowned essayist, author and art critique while addressing the audience said, “If you see, you will notice that the people who are heading institutions these days in our country are unfit in their positions.
The director of Indira Gandhi National Center of Arts is a political landscapist and spent his entire time doing political academia. He has never written a single word of anything artistic, ever. We are nice people and nice people destroy the world much more.”
Vajpeyi, who is widely known as the first man to ever return his Sahitya Akademi Award in 2015 while supporting the right to dissent movement in the country along with legendary novelist Nayantara Sehgal, has authored as many as 23 books so far. Vajpeyi had also returned the D,Litt on January 20, 2016, awarded to him by the University of Hyderabad to protest against the ‘anti-Dalit’ attitude which had driven a Dalit student (Rohit Vemula) to commit suicide.
Taking a jibe at the anti-secular sentiments prevailing in the country, he emphasized on art being a “pluralistic vision”. He said, “The institutions of this country were created with a deep sense of wisdom by the architects of this country. When Nehru became the president of the Sahitya Akademi,
he said that he hopes the PM will not interfere with the workings of thisinstitution.” Reflecting upon the current circumstances, he said violence, lies, injustice, killings and rumours are maligning everything.
“The artists around us have a perception that even if they do not know much about the truth, they should not lie. A good artist should have the courage to say his truth and doubt it too.”