The organisers of the cultural festival Virasat claim to respect native culture, but the artistes of Uttarakhand are miffed at the organisers for not providing adequate platform to the arts of this State even though the Virasat website cites Uttarakhand Department of Culture as one of the sponsors of this fortnight long festival.
Virasat, known for classical and folk music concerts, theatre, folk culture and art exhibitions, has been drawing flak from the artistes of Uttarakhand who complain of being ignored by Rural Entrepreneurship for Art and Cultural Heritage (REACH), which organises this festival in Dehradun.
The native artistes plan to stage a protest on this issue on Thursday. They point out that native arts are not provided adequate space in this big event which can provide a major platform for the local artistes.
The funds used for this event by the State Government are intended to boost the native culture but are being used to exhibit culture mostly from other Indian states and abroad, allege native artistes.
However, lokesh Ohri of REACH states, "This is not a talent show so we cannot provide a chance to all the interested artistes. This festival is being held since before the State was created. We will not allow people to perform simply because they protest.
“This was one of the first festivals to showcase the culture of Uttarakhand without any government support."Replying to whether the State Culture Department was also one of the event sponsors he simply said, "The information on the website is updated periodically."
The fortnight long festival shows few signs of Uttarakhand's culture and crafts. local artistes have often complained of being dishonoured by the event organisers. On the inaugural day when noted Jagar singer of Uttarakhand, Basanti Bisht was performing, she was made to halt her performance twice due to the arrival of the chief guest on the occasion.
And the next day same thing happened with the the local painters.local painter Mukesh Pahadi also alleged that he was called by REACH to participate in the art exhibition that started from Tuesday but was denied participation at the last moment.
Noted folk singer, Pritam Bhartwan said that Virasat should promote local artistes more than the performers from other States. He also mentioned that Uttarakhand's artistes need good platform to display their art.
"This festival should not have been held this year considering the recent disaster that wreaked havoc in Uttarakhand and killed thousands," he added.
Other artistes, too, state that Virasat is a good platform for promoting culture but the culture of Uttarakhand where this event takes place is missing from the event.
Not only cultural performances, but even the native arts and crafts are mostly ignored. There are stalls displaying handicrafts from different States, but very few stalls displaying Uttrakhand's handicrafts.