After three days, the SAARC Literary Festival on South Asian Poetry here struck a discordant note on Sunday over the resolutions framed by the organisers.
When a proposal was put forward on the need to give impetus to regional languages and to counter the English hegemony at present, many members took objection to the intent as well as the manner of presentation of the resolutions.
Poets from Maldives, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bhutan had gathered at the festival that focussed on the themes and future of South Asian poetry. Kannada poet Chandrashaker Kambhar, Malayalam poet K. Sachidanandan and Bengali poet Subodh Sarkar framed the resolutions — the first time since the literary fest started in 2013.
However, this did not go down well with some participants. The Bangladeshi contingent refused to sign the resolutions. A Bangladeshi poet said their primary opposition was that it was framed without taking the delegates into confidence — considering the differing experiences over language in various parts of the region.
Noted Indian English poet Keki N. Daruwalla questioned the need for resolutions during a literary fest that should focus on literature and not on issues of languages or matters of policy. However, Mr. Sarkar said the resolutions were only proposals and sought to boost awareness on the importance of the mother tongue.
“The resolutions were not on the agenda, but were spontaneously created out of concerns raised at the event. Some misunderstood the proposals as being the final recommendations…Now that we have had discussions around this, it will be sent to the SAARC headquarters [in Kathmandu] and we would like this to be sent to all member-governments,” he told The Hindu .
