Direct Action, Dr. Nataraj Huliyar’s play based on the life and struggles of Prof. M.D. Nanjundaswamy (MDN), founder of Rajya Raitha Sangha, was staged in a packed auditorium in Shivamogga on January 21. Majority of the audience comprised farmers with green shawls, the identity of the sangha, on their shoulders. The play is a production of Bengaluru-based Nagna Theatre, and was staged at Kuvempu Ranga Mandira.
The play opens with reference to the year-long farmers’ protest in Delhi against the anti-farmers’ laws, and the role of MDN in organising farmers in Karnataka.
Sampat Maitreya, actor, wins hearts in his role as MDN. As he enters the stage for the first time in the play, many in the audience welcomed him with a round of applause, acknowledging that the actor did resemble MDN. He imitated MDN’s body language and the way he spoke. Whenever he raised a slogan, popular during MDN’s protests on many farmer-related issues, the audience responded.
An elderly woman in the audience was heard telling her grandson that “Prof.MDN just spoke exactly like this”. Whenever the play referred to N.D. Sundaresh, H.S. Rudrappa, Kadidal Shamanna — leaders of the Sangha from Shivamogga — the audience actively responded.
The playwright narrates the life of MDN through an interview with a journalist. Select incidents that occurred over four decades are brought to the stage. They include the farmers’ agitation against anti-farm laws, imposition of levy, the death of farmers in police firing, the harassment of farmers in the name of loan recovery, the seizure of valuables, international trade agreements, and the entry of multinational companies in the retail sector, among others.
The phrase ‘Direct Action’ refers to farmers’ agitation against seizure of valuables from farmers against uncleared loans. The protesters called for the ‘re-seizure’ (maru japthi) of seized goods. Many sacrificed their lives during the struggle or served jail terms.
At the end of the play, farmers paid respects to late MDN and the actors, director Kabaddi Narendra Babu and others of the troupe, by waving their green shawls.
Shivamogga district unit of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene organised the show. K.T. Gangadhar of the sangha, in his preliminary remarks, said that the play deals with some of the incidents that occurred in Bhadravati, during the farmers’ struggle. He highlighted the importance of MDN’s ‘direct action’.
Prof. Nataraj Huliyar, the playwright, said that MDN had been an influential personality behind the literary and social movements of Karnataka in the last five decades.
