The cultural meet organised by the CPI(M) alongside its district conference became a platform for writers and poets to present a case for a rethink on the current political narrative that hinges on perilous ‘cultural nationalism’.
With a sense of urgency, critic M.K. Sanoo, who presided over the meeting, made a case for a return to scientific thinking, which should be complemented by sustained opposition to the atrocities triggered by superstitions.
Globalisation blamed
Accusing the globalisation of replacing the basic needs of humanity with a hypocritical desire for luxury and snobbishness-induced false beliefs, he said the only way out was to bring back scientific temperament in society.
Reformer Sahodaran Ayyappan had written ‘Science Dasakam’, thereby sowing the seeds of scientific thinking. But multinationals in the globalised world were actually taking people back to a pre-science era, enticing them through advertisements to superstitious beliefs and unscientific practices with an eye on profit.
In a carefully-worded speech, poet Balchandran Chullikkad termed nationalism without secularism and equal justice an outright lie. Launching an onslaught on the institutions of religion, caste and race as imbued with political agency, he cited examples from various religions to say how they all reared their bloody political heads at times. “Buddhism is about non-violence, but a Buddhist Sri Lanka carried out genocide of Tamils, and Myanmar did the same to the Rohingya…”
He accused big corporations of slyly using religion and caste to divide people so as to exploit them. “It’s not just the BJP, RSS and the Sangh Parivar that are communal. It’s a state of mind that expands in a way that forces its possessor to eliminate dissent…. If the nationalists of India were true to their words, wouldn’t they share the national wealth equally, without letting a few corporations to control everything?” he asked.
Poet Kureeppuzha Sreekumar criticised public expression of religion as spawning divisive tendencies.
