Street plays are often used a means of protest; expressing suppressed voices of the masses. And so it is especially tragic that four plays were cut from Ramjas College’s annual street theatre festival Mukhatib 2017, held on March 31, in the interest of restoring peace and normalcy on campus or so the student’s claim they were told.

This has been viewed as a precautionary measure by the university authorities to avoid any situation similar to what occurred at the university last month. Large-scale clashes between various members of different political student bodies, such as the All India Students Association (AISA) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) over the invitation to Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid Shora for a seminar.

The banned plays were “Trump Card” (SGTB Khalsa College), “Jokistaan” (Dyal Singh), “Sawal to Uthega” (Guru Gobind Singh College) and “Main Kashmir Aur Aap? Main Manipur “(Gargi College). Out of seven teams, only three teams were allowed to perform. Lady Shri Ram College did not perform as a mark of protest while Miranda House and Kirori Mal College went ahead with their performances. The performers had staged a protest on March 31 sealing their mouth with black tape and black hand bands against the cancellation of the play.

“We were asked to present the scripts one day before the festival. And the next day, we were all set to perform and came to college. It was then the authorities told us that they have to cancel four plays as they have information from secret sources that the themes of these plays are very ‘sensitive’”, said Abhinash DC, a member of Organising Committee of Culture of Protest, which was formed to protest against the cancellation of plays.

While we’re not sure what ‘sensitive’ is meant in this context, the content of plays ran from questioning the fascist forces to their pervasiveness in society. “Main Kashmir Aur Aap? Main Manipur” compares the lives of people living in the conflict areas of Kashmir and Manipur. “Jokistaan” is set in a place called Jokistaan, whose inhabitants constantly mock their government who were elected dubiously.

“We met a panel including [Ramjas] Principal PC Tulsian and staff convener of theatre society, Reethu Sharma. We were made to sign a document from there in order to perform other plays,” said another student Rohit Raj, also a member of the college’s theatre society.

According to a report in The Quint, the principal’s reaction to media, that the cancellation of plays was the students’ decision and not the authorities, has infuriated students. A meeting held at Ramjas college today by Shunya, the theatre society of Ramjas College, decided to seek legal advice before deciding on any course of action. “We want the principal to tell truth. But we realise that getting signed in the document was a trap as principal uses the document to tell the media that it was the students who cancelled the drama. We have decided to go for a legal advice on this matter,” added Raj. “There is also undergoing discussions by the theatre society on performing the four plays on the occasion of ‘Hurdang’, a cultural festival, which will be held on April 12th.

The author can be contacted on Twitter @sahlanechiyil .