People's Democracy

20^TH Anniversary Of The Martyrdom Of Safdar Hashmi

In Defence of Secular Tradition

Sohail Hashmi

JANUARY 1, 2008 to January 1, 2009 marked the 20th Anniversary year of the attack on Safdar and his passing away. Sahmat organised a range of activities through the year leading to the organisation of the 20^th Safdar Memorial in New Delhi.

The Memorial was remarkable in many ways, the most remarkable of these was the very fact that an organisation largely run on voluntary contributions, by artists and by friends of Sahmat, has survived for two decades. Many of those who got involved with Sahmat in their teens now come to Sahmat programmes, with their teenage children. Sahmat has not only kept the spirit of resistance and solidarity alive among those who came together against the attack on creative expression twenty years ago, it has also been able to reach out to the younger generation through its innovative and thought provoking interventions in the sphere of the creative. The fact that Sahmat and its activities continue to appeal to a wide cross section of people was in evidence through the large presence of artists, writers, performers, academicians, students, trade union workers, youth and others who thronged the venue from early afternoon.

Since the early nineties, soon after the formation of Sahmat, communalism and more specifically, majoritarian communalism had emerged as the biggest threat to creative expression and artistic freedom and it is this understanding that has informed the major initiatives taken by Sahmat over the last two decades. This year too the theme of the Memorial was against communalism and it was this and the struggle against intolerance that found expression in most of the performances, especially those presented by musicians.

The Shamiana where most of the performances took place was decorated with huge printouts of photographs highlighting Sahmat activities, through the last two decades. Held across the length and breadth of the country, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Bombay, Trivandrum, Calcutta, Lucknow Aligarh, Faizabad, Ayodhya. and another 35 locations, the backdrop appropriately summed the thrust of the activities of Sahmat paper proclaiming in three languages �In defence of our secular tradition� and �Against Communialism.�

The Sahmat bookstall that also serves as a meeting point for friends and for exchanging notes and addresses aside from picking up latest publications from Sahmat and other progressive publishers shared space with an exhibition on Safdar and the Hum Sab Ayodhya Exhibition that was attacked by the RSS and its progeny in 1993 in Faizabad.

The programme began with an Act One presentation of a street theatre performance which focussed on the frenzied non stop TV coverage of the terrorists killings in Bombay and brought out the insensitivity of the voyeuristic coverage of the gruesome tragedy geared towards encashing human suffering for increasing viewership

The programme began with paying a tribute to journalist Sabina Sehgal who died in the tragic events of Bombay and the painter Manjeet Bawa, both of whom had contributed immensely to the growth of Sahmat.

The tributes were followed by two theatrical performances, the first was presented by the activists of Haryana Gyan Vigyan Samiti. The play dealt with the obnoxious practice of honour killings and highlighted caste oppression and atrocities on women committed in the name of caste honour in large parts of north India notably, Haryana, West UP and Rajasthan.

The second play, on the dangers of Drugs and AIDS was presented by children of the Salam Balak Trust under the direction of the famous modern pupeeteer Dadi Pudumjee. Meera Nair, well known film director and founder of the Salam Balak Trust and her husband, well known political scientist and theoretician Mahmood Mamdani, released Sahmat publication that documents all Sahmat Activities and Statements issued by Sahmat on issues related to culture, attacks on artists, banning of books and films and a whole range of issues that have a bearing on contemporary cultural practices. A resolution on the developments after the recent tragic events of Bombay was then adopted by the assemblage. (See Box) Actress and film director Nandita Das releasing a journal documenting visual history of Sahmat recalled her initiation into theatre with Safdar Hashmi. A collection of popular, democratic and anti-communal songs �Surat Badalani chaiye� and a collection of articles documenting discussions and debates around Sahmat activities, �Bahas Ananta� were also released. A calendar for the year 2009 titled Safdar was also released commemorating the National Street Theatre Day.

The play was followed by a vocal recital by Meeta Pandit, one of the most well known vocalists of the Gwalior Gharana of Hindustani Music. She presented light compositions including two Ghazals by Dushyant Kumar and rounded of her performance by well known composition of the 18^th century Sufi poet Bulleh Shah.

Vidya Shah, who has been associated with Sahmat from the beginning and has trained as a vocalist in both the Carnatic and Hindustani traditions and is a disciple of Shubha Mudgal presented compositions by Kabir, Meera and Dharamdas.

Prahlad Singh Tipaniya, the most well known exponent of Kabir Bani, and his team held the audience spell bound both through the text and their girah bandi as also through expressive voices and the accompanying percussion. Sahmat has over these years underlined the anti-orthodoxy elements in the Sufi-Bhakti poetry and music to combat bigoted interpretation and cynical use of religion.

The audience was by now one with the artists in their exploration of the rich diversity of our pluralistic traditions. The next event was a solo theatrical performance by Maya Rao. The well known theatre personality, had the entire auditorium in splits of laughter at her sharp repartees and scathing comments on war mongers and senseless sabre rattling on both sides of the Indo-Pak border.

There was a stunning dance performance by the well know modern dancer Astad Debu, who had specially prepared a dance piece inspired by the Tagore poem �every particle of dust is awakened�. The audience watched one of the finest exponents of modern Indian dance in total silence, the piece came to an end, but it took a long while before the spell was broken by Sunanda Sharma, a young vocalist who has learnt from several masters and whose singing cuts across diverse traditions. Sunanda regaled the audience with a Punjabi Sufi text set in a chhota khayal composition and this was followed by a beautifully enunciated composition by the Sufi poetry of Baba Ghulam Fareed.

Night had truly set in by the time Jasvinder Jassi came on stage and presented a melange of some of the finest Sufi poetry of the sub-continent Gurbaani, Baba Fareed, Amir Khusro and Bulle Shah. Jassi rounded off his performance with a song dedicated to the memory of Safdar Hashmi, Sabina Sehgal and Manjeet Bawa. After Jassi, it was Rabbi Shergill who took the stage, and sang his Urban Folk music.

The Manganiyars, the wandering ministrels from Rajasthan brought the curtain down with their exposition of Madad, a song in praise of Dastgeer Peer that articulates the feminine voice in the sufi tradition. They followed it up with a composition by Bulleh Shah and another by Shah Hussain, Madan Gopal Singh joined them in this last piece that marked the end of, what has been described by many in the audience as one of the most memorable New Year�s Day that they have spent.

The celebration of 20th anniversary of Sahmat will continue through the months of January-February. An exhibition of Sahmat�s journey in cultural activism titled �Image Text and Music� is being held at Jamia Millia Islamia from January 15 to Febraury 14, 2009 at the MF Husain Gallery. Talks by eminent social scientists ProfessorS Akeel Bilgrami and Arindam Dutta are also planned during the celebration.