Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy who addressed a meeting of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers’ Association at Kamban Kalai Arangam here went around the rows occupied by writers and greeted them individually immediately on his arrival. This has been his practice wherever he goes.
But lyricist Vairamuthu who spoke later told the audience that the Chief Minister greeting the participants did not have selfish motive. He said that Mr. Narayanasamy’s act might be misconstrued by some as an attempt to become the Chief Minister again. Knowing well that most of the audience were from Tamil Nadu, he greeted the writers just out of courtesy. Hence, there was no selfish motive behind the gesture. However, it seems that the increase in participation of writers from outside the UT had not gone down well with a section of local writers. While the conference successfully drew stellar speakers from outside the Union Territory including poet and lyricists Javed Akhtar, Vairamuthu and renowned writer Perumal Murugan, not much preference was given to local writers. Only 30% of the participants were from Puducherry and the rest were from Tamil Nadu.
There were rumours that the Puducherry-based writers had been ignored. This led to a few writers even boycotting the annual conference.
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(Contributed by S. Prasad/S. Senthalir)