The three-day 81st Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelan, to be held at Shravanabelagola from February 1, will be significant in the history of Karnataka. This annual literary event is being held when the Kannada Sahitya Parishat (KSP) is celebrating its centenary year, and for the first time, a distinguished Dalit writer is chairing the sammelan.
This year’s sammelan is plagued by controversies, as many district parishat units vied with one another to host the event during the centenary year. The parishat was founded in May 1915, thanks to the initiatives of the then Dewan of Mysore Sir M. Visvesvaraya and H.V. Nanjundaiah, writer. Finally, as Haveri and Ranebennur units fought between themselves to bag the honour to host the event, the Hassan unit grabbed the opportunity.
The parishat, initially, appealed to distinguished Dalit writer Devanur Mahadeva, to chair the sammelan. However, Dr. Mahadeva, who had rejected the offer to chair twice earlier over the “lack of political will” on implementing Kannada as the medium of instruction, refused the offer again. He said he would lead a movement in support of the demand if parishat abandoned the annual event till the government relented.
Dr. Mahadeva’s rejection resulted in the parishat opting for Dr. Siddalingaiah, a writer and one of the founders of Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, and turning the focus of the meet on issues pertaining to challenges being faced by Kannada and hurdles in making Kannada the medium of instruction. “Decision to focus on language was taken following a letter by Dr. Mahadeva,” said Pundalika Halambi, parishat president.
