Last week, dancer and former Kalakshetra Foundation director Leela Samson had criticised the management of the arts and culture academy in Chennai for allowing the institute’s campus to be misused. In a Facebook post that seems to have since been deleted, the artist said that the institute’s classrooms were being used for the “sales of vegetables, clothes, food – including non-veg food items being sold under the sacred banyan tree, the very heart of the institute.”

The controversy began after a recent event to promote sustainable living at the institute’s premises. Reports said a flash mob had been held at the event.

Samson also wrote that the wooding flooring at the institute was being damaged because of commercial structures built in the classroom. Scroll.in had reported on the Facebook post and had also spoken to Samson.

N Gopalaswami, the Chairman of the Kalakshetra Foundation, responds to the allegations and speaks about the event at the centre of the controversy.