Stage and Film Artistes Shabana Azmi, Rohini Hattangady, Lillette Dubey, Atul Kumar and others have signed a petition against the cancellation of a theatre festival in Chattarpur, Madhya Pradesh, that was to stage IPTA's production of Vijay Tendulkar's, JAAT HI PUCHHO SADHU KI, following protests by the Bajrang Dal. Sanjoy Roy of Teamwork Arts started an online petition urging the cultural community to condemning this action.
The objection was to the word 'Sadhu' in the title, though the play has no religious content. The original Marathi play, PAHIJE JAATICHE, a satire on the caste and class system, has been performed multiple times in several languages. Typically, the right-wing group has not seen or read the play but labelled it "anti-Hindu and anti-Indian culture."
The National committee of IPTA has demanded that the MP Government take strict action against the erring officials of the Chhatarpur district administration and order restoration of theatre festival with adequate compensation to organisers and artistes. Rakesh, IPTA's General Secretary has called upon "all our units and all democratic theatre, cultural and literary organisations to protest against this attack on culture and democracy."
