“I am a scholar and have to follow the logic of truth. I have to speak what I think is the truth. If it is unpopular, one has to face the consequences,” said social scientist Shiv Visvanathan, responding to the controversy over his remarks on the Indian Army at the just-concluded Dharwad Sahitya Sambhrama.
Speaking at a panel on nationalism at the literary meet on Saturday, Shiv Visvanathan in his critique of the nation state pointed out to the documented human rights violations by the army — rapes and extra judicial killings — in North East and Kashmir, where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958, is in force. An ex-serviceman, also a senior government official, took exception to this. This led to protests by ex-servicemen and the BJP against Shiv Visvanathan and the organisers of the meet on Sunday, which ended with a few members of BJP Yuva Morcha storming into the meet and ransacking the stage at the concluding session.
“Mine was a critique of the nation state. Most of the lecture was on how nationalism changed into the nation state. I don’t see a problem. These kind of discussions will have differences. Let us have a debate. All I was discussing was AFSPA atrocities in Manipur, which are well documented... An act of scholarship has to be an act of scholarship and an act of human rights investigation has to be an act of human rights investigation. I am as Indian as anyone and as democratic,” Shiv Visvanathan told The Hindu.
BJP’s actions have come under criticism from writers and organisers of the literary meet. Baragur Ramachandrappa, who inaugurated the meet, said that though he may not agree with what Shiv Visvanathan said, creating a ruckus in the name of opposition was condemnable as it was anti-democratic. Raghavendra Patil, president of the Trust that organises the meet, said he was deeply pained by BJP’s protest. “Nuance seems to be dead. The media misrepresented what Shiv Visvanathan said. But in a larger context, this is a reflection of the social unrest in the society and an unhealthy immersion of society in politics. We started Sahitya Sambhrama to try and bridge the divide and heal hatred between the two blocks with creativity. But it seems to have failed,” he said.
However, the organisers have refused to file a police complaint against the BJP workers who created a ruckus at the meet. “We feel filing a complaint will be of no use. The larger society must take up this issue,” Mr. Patil said.
