Theatre repertoire Rangayana which was in the eye of a storm a few months ago over invitation to RSS ideologue, Venkataramu, to deliver a lecture during Bahurupi national theatre festival, is set to court controversy yet again.
For, the Rangayana director Addanda C. Cariappa has invited another right wing activist to deliver a talk and the topic is: ‘’Why I am in RSS’’. This is part of the theatre festival Grishma Rangayanothsava which will kick off from Sunday and the talk is slated to be held on June 17 at 4 p.m.
When questioned on the need for the talk by an RSS leader during a theatre festival, Mr. Cariappa justified the move stating there was lot of discussion revolving around Sangh Parivar in the current times in the State and hence the talk has been arranged to let people know more about it.
Asked whether he was not courting controversy, Mr. Cariappa said nothing was possible without controversy. He said Rangayana was “peddling leftist views” for 32 years and hence there was nothing wrong in learning about other views and ideologies as well.
His earlier decision to invite Chakravarthi Sulibele during Bahurupi led to a hue and cry with a section of amateur artistes and former directors staging a protest. There were a series of demonstrations by activists who called for sacking Mr. Cariappa from the Rangayana director’s post.
Grishma Rangayanothsava will have plays by students of Bharateeya Ranga Shikshana Kendra at Rangayana. The festival will be held from June 12 to June 19 and the plays will be staged daily from 6.30 p.m.
