Allana and (above) Mirdha

New Delhi, June 9: First it was the Sangeet Natak Akademi, now it is the turn of the National School of Drama.

Two days after former Union minister and Congress leader Ram Niwas Mirdha replaced danseuse Sonal Mansingh as chairperson of the Akademi, theatre personality Amal Allana has been appointed head of the school of drama.

Allana succeeds actor Anupam Kher, who was appointed during the NDA regime and had resigned in January this year. Since then, Marathi playwright Satish Alekar, who is the vice-chairman, had been officiating.

Allana is currently out of India and will take charge after she returns.

Both the Akademi and the school of drama had been at the centre of controversy for months. Mansingh’s tenure turned stormy after three executive board members, including vice-chairman and theatre personality Kavalam Narayana Panicker, Carnatic music exponent Balamurali Krishna and Manipuri actor Savitri Heisnam, resigned in protest against her “autocratic administration” and “saffron leanings”.

More than a dozen Akademi office-bearers resigned while 65 artistes sent a signed memorandum to the President and Union culture minister S. Jaipal Reddy demanding Mansingh’s removal.

Addressing reporters today, the new Akademi chairperson fielded questions about a politician being appointed as the chairman of a cultural institution.

“You say that with my appointment, political interference has increased. This is a matter of opinion. I am a politician and an art lover. If you treat my appointment as an interim one, it will be ideal. The chairman should come from the artiste community. I consider it as a duty to protect the interests of the artistes.”

At the other institution, it was a different kind of controversy. Earlier this year, students went on strike protesting against a University Grants Commission proposal to give it deemed university status. According to the students, turning the institution into a university would invite budget cuts that would take away its current emphasis on the practical aspect of drama to a theory-oriented one.

The school, which has an annual budget of about Rs 18 crore, takes in only 20 students every year for its two-year diploma course that focuses on intensive and individual training.