'Bharat Bhawan affair anti Arjun plot'

NK SINGH

The Bharat Bhawan controversy has taken a political turn, with one of its life trustees, noted painter J. Swami Nathan, launching a thinly veiled attack on the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Motilal Vora.

The bearded painter said in a press interview that he apprehended a conspiracy by some "politically influential persons' behind the current "smear campaign" against Bharat Bhawan in the wake of the sensational Vibha-Karanth affair.

In an obvious reference to the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Swaminathan said the "conspiracy" was aimed at Mr Arjun Singh, the AICC-I vice-president and Bharat Bhawan Trust chairman, and Mr Ashok Vajpeyi, the culture secretary of Madhya Pradesh and Bharat Bhawan's trustee-secretary.

Mr Swaminathan, who was 'lured' to Madhya Pradesh during the regime of Mr Arjun Singh, is considered a supporter of the former chief minister. "We will quit the trust," he had earlier told newsmen when asked what the artists would do if the constitution of the Bharat Bhawan Trust was changed and Mr Singh was ousted from it.

Although Mr Swaminathan refused to name the person whom he suspected of instigating the smear campaign, he left little doubt about the identity of his target in the interview. The police, he alleged, acted right from the initial stage of its investigation to prove Karanth guilty with cooperation from the press.

With this open attack by Mr Swaminathan on the state Government, the controversy has assumed political dimensions. It is an open secret that Mr Motilal Vora and Mr Arjun Singh do not see eye to eye in the political arena.

With Bharat Bhawan becoming the centre of unsavoury attention, normal activities in the sprawling multi-arts complex have come to a standstill. Particularly hit is Rangmandal, the repertory. Its performances have been suspended for almost a fortnight now because the director, B. V. Karanth, is in jail and one of the artists, Ms Vibha Mishra, is in hospital with serious burns.

But Mr Swaminathan and other artists, although obviously shattered because of the adverse publicity, are reportedly making every effort to resume the theatre and other activities of the arts complex.

Meanwhile, Mr Ashok Vajpeyi is learnt to have turned down the offer of director-generalship of the Festival of India. The offer, which was made by the festival's chairperson, Mrs. Pupul Jayakar, who also happens to be one of the trustees of Bharat Bhawan had been received through the state Government a few days ago. Mr Vajpeyi called on his friend, B. V. Karanth, arrested on the charge of attempted murder, in jail on Monday. He had given a written application for this meeting, it is learnt from official sources.

The noted drama director has been accorded special class in jail by the magistrate. Karanth's lawyer had moved an application before a local court pleading for a special class for his client in view of his status. He was so far in the jail hospital.

The 57-year-old artiste is a recipient of Padmashree. At the time of his arrest last month he was chairman of the MP Film Development Corpoгаtion, a State Government undertaking, and director of Bharat Bhawan's Rangmandal.

Mr J. Swaminathan has denied that he had gone to Delhi accompanying Ms Vibha Mishra, the Rangmandal actress who was flown by a state plane to Delhi for treatment of her burns last week. "I had accompanied her only up to Bhopal Airport to see her off," he told ENS.

Indian Express

June 10, 1986