Kannada writers and representative organisations of the language seem to have turned their backs to multiple crises plaguing Kannada and Karnataka today, lamented writer and scholar Purushottam Bilimale, speaking at the Jana Sahitya Sammelana, a protest literary meet in Bengaluru on Sunday, organised as a counter to the Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Haveri.
“It pains me to note that while Gita Hariharan wrote an English novel inspired by the assassination of M.M. Kalburgi, these assassinations and what led to them have not yet inspired any work of creative writing in Kannada. Our writers need to respond to our times,” he said, adding that we need to take a tough stand against all attacks on the syncretic culture, which is the mainstay of Kannada.
Sahitya Akademi award-winning writer Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy, who inaugurated the meet, said, “Conscious citizens of this country should tie down the mad horse of ethnic nationalism that is provoking violence through lies and hate.” Since a party’s agenda of “pushing out Muslims from the mainstream” has now spread to the literary event as well, this protest meet is called for, he said.
Coming down heavily on the recent revision of textbooks, he said it was evident how the revision had obliterated all criticisms of caste hierarchy in textbooks. However, he was optimistic that such exercises at rewriting history were futile in a digital age.
Several writers condemned the alleged exclusion of Muslim writers from the Haveri sammelana. “Muslims are increasingly finding themselves robbed of all platforms for their expressions, making many Muslim youths more introverted, probably pushing them to take to literature to express themselves. But even in literature, their voices are being stifled,” said senior journalist Dinesh Amin Mattu.
Rahmat Tarikere recalled the former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajapayee’s advice to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to follow the “Rajadharma”, and said, “today we need to tell the government of the State and all institutions that use taxpayer’s money to follow Karnataka’s ‘Samskrutika Dharma’, which is essentially inclusive”.
Jana Sahitya Sammelana adopted eight resolutions, including demanding that the Kannada Sahitya Parishat be inclusive in all its programmes. The meeting demanded that the government ensure the autonomy of all cultural institutions. It condemned the appointments made by the State government to the Textbook Revision Committee and Rangayana. “We condemn any merger of banks and cooperatives of our State with any north Indian institution, and imposition of Hindi,” it said.
