Guru Mayadhar Raut was awarded the Padma Shri for his role in giving Odissi its classical status. He is among the eight artistes who were asked to vacate the government accommodation by 25 April
Images of Guru Mayadhar Raut with a walking stick outside his accomodation went viral on social media.
The government on Tuesday evicted 90-year-old Oddisi exponent from his government accommodation in Delhi’s Asian Games Village. Mayadhar Raut was awarded a Padma Shri, the country’s fourth-highest civilian honour, in 2010.
The government claimed that eviction notices were served to Raut and other artistes after they lost a court case. They had been given 25 April as the deadline to vacate the accommodation.
Padma Shri on the street
As the eviction started, social media was flooded with images of some of Raut’s belongings being dumped on the road. Videos of the frail dancer with a walking stick standing outside his house went viral on social media. Even his Padma Shri citation was seen lying on the street.
Raut’s daughter, Madhumita Raut, was at his house when she labourers and policemen arrived and allegedly started throwing out his belongings. “My father was in a shock,” she told media channels, adding that he suffers from multiple ailments.
“Our belongings were thrown out. Had I not luckily been with my father that day, he might have died,” Madhumita told NDTV.
The eviction
The Ministry of Urban and Home Affairs had in October last year sent eviction notices to 27 eminent personalities including dancers and musicians to vacate their government-allotted houses across the Capital by end of December.
The homes which were allotted for three years continued to receive extensions. However, the last extension reportedly expired in 2014.
After the 2020 government notice, the artistes including the late Birju Maharaj, had moved court. Among those allotted houses were artist Jatin Das and santoor player Pandit Bhajan Sopori.
After losing the case in a lower court, the artistes filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court.
‘We are low on priority’
Madhumita told The Hindu that she was in the process of emptying the house, which was allotted to her father 25 years ago, and moving her father to a temporary accommodation while they awaited the court’s decision. She wasn’t against the eviction but it was carried out in an “inhumane” manner.
“The houses were allotted to artists who work with the guru-shishya tradition and don’t care for commercial interests. Isn’t it the government’s responsibility to take care of Padma awardees?” she said, according to the newspaper.
While talking to NDTV she said, “We are very low on this government’s priority.”
“He has served this country all these years. He has no property or land anywhere and has just Rs 3,000 in his bank account. How can you just throw him out?” she asked.
Social media outrage
Raut was groomed in Odissi by the legendary dance Rukmini Devi Arundale. He has been credited for playing a major role in earning the classical status for the dance form. Back in the day, many considered it to be folk art.
His eviction triggered outrage on social media. Slamming the government, Trinamool Congress MP Jawahar Sircar wrote on Twitter, “This is how Modi treats 90 year old legendary Guru Mayadhar Raut.”
Many Twitter users called the eviction shameful and inhumane.
Other artistes face similar face
Other award-winning artistes have also received eviction notices. Apart from Raut, notices were given to Padma Shri winner Bharati Shivaji, dance legend Birju Maharaj, who died in January, painter Jatin Das, and classical singer Wasifuddin Dagar.
Vanashree Rao, the wife of Kuchipudi dancer Guru Jayarama Rao, who was allotted a house in the Asian Games Village in 1987, said that the artistes were awaiting the court’s decision on their appeal and that so far Raut was the only one of the group to be evicted, reports The Hindu.
Mohiniyattam exponent Bharati Shivaji, 74, who lives with her 98-year-old mother, told The Indian Express that it was painful to see Guru Mayadhar and she has started looking for an affordable apartment in Delhi. “Artistes don’t retire, their role changes. The government needs to value that,” said Shivaji told the newspaper.
Despite the anger, the eviction process will carry on as planned because the courts have now given them any relief, The Hindu reports.
With inputs from agencies
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