Attempts by the Sangh Parivar to force their narrow-minded outlook on the rest of the country will be strongly opposed by those who believe in democracy, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
“Intolerance is rising in the country, with some under the impression that they have the right to decide what others can speak and write,” he said, adding that such tendencies seek to change the plural nature of the nation.
“However, there are individuals who choose to not submit to these attempts, and even lose their lives in the process,” Mr. Vijayan said, recollecting the murders of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M. M. Kalburgi, and the controversy over writer Perumal Murugan's novel Madhorubhagan .
He was delivering the inaugural address at the official release of 151 books published by the Sahithya Pravarthaka Cooperative Society (SPCS) here on Thursday.
Lauding the contributions made by SPCS to the Malayalam literary field, the CM said that present circumstances called for boosting the activities of such progressive organisations, whose voices should be heard more.
New works of literature, whose power can be leveraged in the struggle against intolerance, will hopefully be borne out of the State government’s allocation of a sum of ₹4 crore for expanding the activities of SPCS, he said.
On the occasion, Mr. Vijayan officially released Kadammanitta krithikal , a collection of the works of author Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan, by handing it over to his widow R. Santhamma.
Tourism and Cooperation Minister Kadakampally Surendran and K. Muraleedharan, MLA, were present at the function.
