Delhi University College Drops Theatre Group's Play On Kashmir From Annual Fest To 'maintain Political Neutrality'

Days before they were scheduled to perform at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies’ annual cultural fest, members of the Alternative Space Project went from one classroom to another promoting their upcoming performance. However, on 24 January, a day before the fest was to take place at one of Delhi University’s top commerce colleges, their play chronicling the history of Kashmir, was cancelled.

Although the young theatre practitioners have had brushes with censorship in the past, the phone call delivering the news left them flustered. “We were told by certain professors that the topic was too ‘sensitive’ to be discussed in present times,” says Karan Chaudhary, who apart from being the writer of of the ‘contentious’ play, Aksariyat Akliyat, happens to be a former student of the college. He spent months studying the mythical and political narratives which continue to colour perspectives on Kashmir with his director, Vivek Tyagi, before taking it to different Indian cities. Just last month, the group was at Mumbai’s fabled Prithvi Theatre to stage the play as part of Thespo 21, the youth theatre festival.

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