Caste and party politics have reared their ugly heads, and this time into the serene campus of Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai, one of the oldest art colleges in the country. According to the buzz amongst the campus faculty, the transfer of JJ’s Dean, Professor Vishwanath Sabale, to the Government College of Art and Design in Nagpur this month is the final nail in the coffin. As per reports, the art professor has been a victim of a hate campaign by a certain lobby within the campus ever since he took over the Dean position in 2011.
Sabale, who belongs to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category, first joined J.J. School of Art in 2001 and later, through the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC), was appointed to the position of professor in 2006. A few faculty members, while speaking on conditions of anonymity, commented on how Sabale has always been ‘treated differently’ since then. “Ever since Sabale Sir took over the reins of the college in 2011, both the old faculty members along with the alumni members have been running a hate campaign against him by degrading him and his work. Sabale Sir ignored all this and stuck on and continued to do his work. He was instrumental in reviving the many defunct departments of the Institute and ushering in new changes over the years,” he adds, continuing that apart from reviving the 100-year-old plus campus magazine RugaVed, he was also responsible for hosting the Korean Biennale twice on campus along with other prominent events that have elevated the status of JJ on several fronts. Added to that, Sabale was also instrumental in providing a fresh approach to the syllabus, mentoring the careers of many students over the years, as well as restoring many artworks of its illustrious alumni like V. S. Gaitonde, S. H. Raza, Prabhakar Barve, and many more owned by the college and showcasing them to the world.
The exit of Sabale has hit faculty members, mainly those belonging to the minority class who believe that this is nothing but a ploy by a section of former students and faculty belonging to a certain category to oust Sabale by taking the help of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Some former students who may have graduated decades ago want to have access to the campus. They want to use the 10-acre space on the campus as their own studios and run it as their territory. It is a prestige issue for them. This is why they came together and campaigned hard to bring in the de-novo deemed university status to JJ, which the college received last year by collaborating with a few BJP ministers. They wanted to increase the fees too, a clause that Sabale was against. If this happens, then no poor student in the country can afford to study at JJ in the future.
As per the new de-novo policy, Sabale’s position has been wiped out, and all three colleges, namely the College of Applied Art, Architecture, and Fine Art, are under one umbrella. The alumni were pushing to appoint a BJP supporter in place of Sabale and even got many BJP ministers involved, but the present officials overruled the decision, citing a lack of teaching and art experience, and instead promoted the existing professors to heads of departments, transferring Sabale to Nagpur.”
Well, JJ’s huge loss is ultimately Nagpur’s gain, and we eagerly await to see what new miracles Sabale now creates in his new role.
(The author is a senior journalist based in Mumbai. Views personal.)
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