Referring to the increasing trend of intolerance towards dissent, writer and literary critic Rahamat Tarikere said that verbal and physical attacks on all those who expressed a difference of opinions or held ideological positions that were contrary to majoritarian ones had created a kind of suffocating environment in the Kannada literary and cultural world and obstructed the free flow of thought. He was delivering the keynote address at a seminar on literary trends in Kannada literature, at Gulbarga University, on Tuesday. The event was organised by Karnataka Sahitya Academy and Department of Kannada, Gulbarga University.
“The Kannada intellectual sphere has a rich tradition of healthy public debate. We have seen how contradictory thoughts bitterly contended to enrich public knowledge. Shamba Joshi, writers and cultural critic, could freely and fearlessly express his critical views on the Gita. The public contention of views between Kuvempu and Masti [Masti Venkatesha Iyengar], the stalwarts of the Kannada literary world, is well-known. Similar were Lankesh’s bitter debates with his contemporary writers and intellectuals. These meaningful debates enriched public knowledge and shaped the Kannada conscience. However, we don’t have a healthy atmosphere that allows meaningful debate these days. There is a systematic attempt to silence dissent by force. We are in a fear of not returning home safely if we speak our minds,” he said and added that India was fast moving towards the most anti-intellectual regime of its times and Kannada literature was losing its character of rational, sensible and independent thinking as nobody was ready to speak his or her mind fearing it might prove to be fatal.
Benefits of social media
Pointing out how social media platforms like Facebook had opened opportunities to large sections of people and encouraged them express themselves, Mr. Tarikere said that the technology has created a new generation of writers who were greatly contributing to the enrichment of Kannada literature.
“We need not consider only those writings in hitherto known forms such as poetry, prose, plays and epics as literature. Everything that enhances the readers’ knowledge, including a good piece of reader’s letter published in a newspaper, should be considered as literature. With social media platforms like Facebook reaching out to the majority of the population, many people from different walks of life have started writing. Farmers, students, agricultural scientists, transgenders, doctors and other sections of people are creating beautiful literature. The teacher-centric literature has vanished these days and we should be happy for that as it has made the literature prosperous,” he said.
Flip side
He also drew attention to the flip side of social media and expressed concerns over the way public debate was touching new lows and opinions were being manufactured in favour of hate and murder. “It is strange to see that those who have not read a single page of scholarly essays by M.M. Kalburgi or editorials by journalist Gauri Lankesh comment on the integrity of the authors... The sad thing is that a public opinion justifying the murders of intellectuals is being manufactured, especially through charged debates on social media platforms,” he said.
