Two poets, Chand Pasha N.S., who is among the few Muslim writers on the panels at Kannada Sahitya Sammelana to be held in Haveri from January 6 to 8, 2023, and H.R. Sujatha, who was supposed to chair a poetry meet at the Sammelana, have now announced that they will boycott it.
The Sammelana has come under severe criticism for alleged exclusion of Muslim and women writers, triggering a protest event in the city on January 8. There have hardly been any Muslim writers on the panels, and Chand Pasha was one of them.
“Kannada Sahitya Parishat (KSP) is discriminating writers based on religion, caste, and gender. It is sad that the Sammelana in Haveri, the land of Shishunala Sharif and Kanakadasa, has excluded Muslim writers,” he said, adding the Sammelana did not have panels on rising communal divisions in the State, pointing to the orientation of KSP today.
He said he had planned to read his poem “Huliya Kathe” on the 18th century king Tipu Sultan at the Sammelana. “I will definitely participate in the protest sammelana, being organised by progressive writers, in the city on January 8,” he said.
In an open letter written to Mahesh Joshi, President, KSP, Ms. Sujatha said she was not aware of all the invitees to the Sammelana when she accepted the invite. “However, I see there seems to be a deliberate exclusion of Muslim writers from the Sammelana, which is condemnable. So I have decided to not attend the Sammelana,” she said in the letter.
