Exclusive: FWICE suspends affiliation of Cine Dancers Association

Last week the Cine Dancers Association had raised its voice against a parallel body led by controversial Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Ram Kadam.

Members of the CDA, which was formed in 1961, had accused the All-India Screen Dancers Association (AISDA), a body formed in July this year with Kadam as its president, of robbing them of their livelihoods by undercutting their rates.

The AISDA is not recognized by the Federation of Western India Cine Employees, apex body of film industry workers' unions which has 21 associations affiliated with it. The CDA was one of them. Until Monday.

In a blow to the official union, a governing council meeting of the FWICE and its affiliates decided on 10 September to suspend the CDA 'temporarily'.

FWICE president BN Tiwari told Cinestaan.com, “The governing council unanimously decided to 'disaffiliate' the Cine Dancers Association. We have given them and the All-India Screen Dancers Association two months to resolve their differences. If they fail to do so, it may result in permanent 'disaffiliation'."

Tiwari said the CDA was invited for the governing council meeting but its office-bearers failed to show up. However, CDA president Vijay Singh said none of the union's office-bearers received any intimation of the meeting.

“We received no invitation," Vijay Singh told Cinestaan.com. "We had earlier received a show-cause notice from the FWICE pertaining to the dispute [with the AISDA] and given a written reply, but the FWICE office staff refused to accept our letter."

Vijay Singh confirmed that he had heard that the FWICE had decide to suspend his association's membership. He said he had also heard that a former president and former general secretary of the CDA had attended the governing council meeting.

Tiwari admitted that the former CDA office-bearers were present at the meeting, but refused to say anything more. “We pasted a circular of the GC meeting on the office board of the CDA," the federation president said. "I don’t know whether they saw it. FWICE has been in touch with Masterji [choreographer Ganesh Acharya] who said he would bring the CDA to the meeting. This issue needs to be resolved soon.”

CDA president Vijay Singh shared a copy of the show-cause notice issued to his association on 23 August 2018 by FWICE general secretary Ashok Dubey. In the notice, the FWICE called upon the CDA to resolve its disputes and conduct fresh elections.

'FWICE had tried to intervene among all three rival groups of your association and mediated to resolve all issues which were burning within your association,' the notice said. 'The decision of the FWICE was primarily accepted by all the three rival groups and they agreed that the FWICE should conduct fresh elections of the CDA as per the provisions in the constitution of the CDA.'

It appears that the FWICE, which was established in 1956, has not taken kindly to the CDA hitting out at its office-bearers in the media. It must be remembered that the parallel union set up by Ram Kadam has FWICE treasurer Gangeshwar Shrivastav as its general secretary.

In its reply to the FWICE, the CDA expressed disappointment at the federation supporting three former CDA office-bearers. The three are ex-president Zahid Sheikh, ex-general secretary Ravi Kanwar and ex-treasurer Dereck Biswas.

'We were aghast to know that the FWICE is supporting three ex-CDA members who had tendered their resignation and were involved in financial turpitude in the accounts of our association,' the reply by Vijay Singh said. 'We came for support from the mother body but in vain.'

Vijay Singh urged the FWICE to dissociate itself with the three former CDA office-bearers. FWICE treasurer Gangeshwar Shrivastav remained unavailable for comment. It does appear that the two sides have not come any closer to resolving their differences.

"The CDA has two months to resolve its differences," Tiwari repeated. "Like I said, if these two bodies don’t come together, a third body will take advantage of the situation."