Govt. justifies dissolving IGNCA board, says 'it's a continuous process'

Minister of State for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma on Thursday dubbed the Centre's move to dissolve the board of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) a continuous process while stating that it was not happening for the first time.

"It is a continuous process. Change is again a continuous process and as a part of that, this change has been brought. It is not for the first time that this has been done," Sharma told ANI.

"With this change, we expect we have selected philanthropist on this post as a president, Ram Bahadur Rai, who is a noted journalist. He has been associated with Gandhian thoughts, Jai Prakash Narayan thoughts. So, I think it's a great thing," he added.

Sharma also said that the people, who have been associated in this 20-member list as a trustee, are all experts in their respective fields.

"This will serve the purpose for which it has been created," he said.

In a major setback to the Congress Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA Government earlier dissolved the board of the IGNCA, which is an autonomous institution under the Union Ministry of Culture.

The Central Government has appointed senior journalist Ram Bahadur Rai as the next IGNCA chairman. He replaces former diplomat Chinmaya Gharekhan.

The IGNCA was launched on November 19, 1985 by the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi at a function where the symbolism of the components was clearly articulated at different levels.

The IGNCA, established in memory of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, is visualised as a centre encompassing the study and experience of all the arts -- each form with its own integrity, yet within a dimension of mutual interdependence, interrelated with nature, social structure and cosmology.