Maharashtra Govt Removes Political Appointees From Five Sahitya Academies

In a surprise move, the state government has removed all non-official members from five Sahitya Academies dedicated to Hindi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Telugu, and Gor Banjara languages. The Cultural Affairs Department issued the orders on Friday.

The decision is being linked to the recent leadership change in the department, which is now headed by Ashish Shelar, a BJP legislator. The previous appointments to these academies were made by his predecessor, Sudhir Mungantiwar – also from the BJP – who served as the Minister for Cultural Affairs in the earlier Eknath Shinde-led government.

Although the academies will exist, their work will come to a halt in the absence of the executive presidents and non-official members who are political appointees. The Hindi and the Sindhi academies had 28 members each, with Shitala Prasad Dubey and Mahesh Sukhramani as their executive presidents, respectively.

The Gujarati Academy had 16 members, with Snehal Muzumdar as its executive president. Appointments at the Hindi, Sindhi and Gujarati academies were made in 2023.

Appointments of the executive president and non-official members for the Telugu Sahitya Academy and Gor Banjara Sahitya Academy were made last year, a few days ahead of the election code of conduct for the state assembly elections came into force. Both the academies had 11 non-official members along with the executive presidents – Phulsingh Jadhav for Gor Banjara and Dr P V Ramana for the Telugu academy.

All the appointments are made for three years from the date of their restructuring. Normally, such appointments are annulled after the expiry of the term of the change in the government (of a different political party).

The current decision came against the backdrop that the political appointments had direct influence of the previous government, headed by the Shiv Sena, and the BJP's Minister for Cultural Affairs.

Now, until new appointments are made, the permanent members – the Minister for Cultural Affairs, the Additional Chief Secretary of the department and the joint director will run the show.

The Sahitya Academies have been formed to bridge the cultural gap between Marathi, the state's official language and the concerned language. Cultural exchange should happen in the fields of literature, language, public life and culture. The state also takes up responsibility to preserve literature, culture and language by organising programs based on folk arts, seminars, symposiums and similar events.

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