CANACONA
The fifth Kala Utsav (Art Festival), which was postponed reportedly on account of a feud between Speaker Ramesh Tawadakr and Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude, finally took place on Sunday without any political fanfare at Indrawada-Gaondongrem.
The Indreshwar Youth Club (IYC) of Indrawada, organisers of the Kala Utsav, had taken every precaution to ensure that the festival did not cause any further political flutter among local or state politicians, and had not even posted invitations of the event on social media.
According to sources, among those present at the fifth Kala Utsav at Indrawada included local folk artistes, dramatist/writer Kavindra Faldessai and Devendra Tawadkar as special invitees and some local representatives from the Art and Culture department, a village elder and ward panch Anand Velip.
The festival witnessed presentations by groups from Kolhapur (Maharashtra) and other parts of the State.
Those who were felicitated at the festival included villagers who had acted in the first-ever ‘Natak’ in Indrawada in 1980, Sonu Tawakar, Bhikro L Gaonkar, Paik G Gaonkar, Arjun G Padkar, Govind D Gaonkar, Rohidas Chari and Ashok B Velip, while Babi M Velip and Datta Velip, were felicitated in their absence.
The Kala Utsav, which was organised in association with Directorate of Art and Culture, was originally scheduled to take place on February 11, but a controversy broke out after the invitation card had included Gaude as the chief guest but there was no mention of Tawadkar.
The IYC then called off the event on February 11 and later decided to hold the Kala Utsav with the same set of performances and activities. But this time, no politician was included in the guest list and the event was conducted without being in the limelight of the media.
