Noted poet Ashok Vajpeyi has emphasised the relevance of poetry in upholding the notion of plurality of truths, which is being endangered by attempts to impose ‘absolute truths.’
Inaugurating ‘Dakshina,’ the three-day-long South Indian Poetry Festival, organised by the Ayyappa Panicker Foundation on Tuesday, Mr. Vajpeyi cautioned against massive lies, which were being “churned out every day in large numbers,” and many of which were being accepted as truth. “Under such circumstances, poetry always seeks to speak with doubts. Most good poetry are created out of doubts, rather than claims of truth,” he said.
Lamenting the attempts to suppress, silence and weaken dissent, Mr. Vajpeyi said that poetry had survived them all. “Courage has become rare in these post-truth times. Poetry has emerged as the last resort of spirituality at a time, when religions have abandoned spiritual concerns. In times of tyrannical tendencies, poetry is a form of civil obedience,” the poet said.
Mr. Vajpeyi expressed optimism at the valiant role played by writers in the country. “When all other sections of society seem to have become either silent or complicit or tolerant of intolerance, only the writers and artists of this country had offered resistance. In north India, where it has become difficult to distinguish one party from the other, literature is perhaps the only political opposition,” he remarked.
Presiding over the function, Ayyappa Panicker Foundation president K. Satchidanandan said that poetry had the moral responsibility to free society from the clutches of divisive forces and lend voice to the voiceless.
He added that Ayyappa Panicker had constantly renewed his style of poetry. He introduced new idioms and styles in Malayalam poetry. He also liberated poetry from many of its conventional constraints. Having been a literary personality who was actively involved in several avenues, Ayyappa Panicker had left behind a legacy that had inspired the next generation, Dr. Satchidanandan added.
Poets Sugathakumari, Balachandran Chullikkad, K. Siva Reddy, V.M. Manjunatha, Rajathi Salma, Sridala Swami and Ayyappa Panicker Foundation vice-president T.P. Sreenivasan spoke on the occasion.
