-T Satisan from Kerala-
Kerala Literary Festival (KLF) organised by DC Books, one of the major book publishers in Kerala, has invited the wrath of the right thinking people and non-Leftist writers in the state of Kerala. The fact that the Fest bagged Rs 20 lakh from the Tourism Department of the Government of India reveals the significance of the Fest. The protests against the Fest have come in the wake of the organisers’ decision to keep the non-Left writers aloof from the Fest. The Fest Director and the CPM fellow traveler poet K Sachidanandan declared well in advance that the theme of the Fest is “Resistance” hence it is meant for the pro-Left writers. Sachidanandan is infamous for his anti-Sangh parivar and anti-nationalistic views. When he was at the helm of the Kendra Sahitya Academy, his actions and statements were always in the same spirit. He was the man behind the funny “award wapsi” some time back. The Fest was carried out in Kozhikode on February 8, 9 and 10. The organisers have been talking on top of their voice that they were financed by the State Government.
But, when Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam visited the pandal, he disclosed that an amount Rs 20 lakh had been provided by the Union Tourism Ministry for the conduct of the Fest. It demolished the false argument of the organisers that the Fest was funded by the State Government. Kannanthanam severely criticised the decision to confine the Fest to the Left writers alone. He said that it was absolutely wrong to keep the writers of other streams away from Fest.
The invitees and participants were writers of extreme and fissiparous theories and those who criticise the union regime day and night. The discussions conducted also were along these lines. The selection criteria for the participants in the discussions were whether they criticise BJP, RSS and PM Modi, etc. Kanayakumar and Tamil film star Prakashraj were among the VIPs owing to this measuring yard! Some Kozhikode-based recipients of the Sahitya Academy was avoided as they did not belong to the organisers’ “school of thoughts!”
Another person conspicuous by presence was Rahul Pashupalan who was jailed for several months for the alleged running of the online sex racket. His model girl wife Reshmi Nair was in the jail too in connection with the same case. The case is still going on. The couple led the infamous ‘Kiss of Love’ movement couple of years ago in different parts of the State. It was an outward observance of sexual anarchy. They raised a ridiculous justification for that programme, that is, fight against the RSS, BJP, Modi and fascism. Media published his picture sitting with other VIPs on the dais of KLF! And, the organisers introduced him as the ‘victim of the state terror.’ Some people cracked a serious joke that Sachidanandan did a good service to non-Left writers by not making them share the dais with Pashupalan !
When Minister Kannanthanam exposed the Rs 20 lakh fund Sachidananadan revised his earlier statement. He says, the Fest is for writers of all thoughts and only a handful of Left writers have participated in the programme. When the Central Government funding hit the headlines, demands have come up for a detailed enquiry into the spending of the funds for this mela. BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan said that if Sachidanandan planned a Leftist writers’ conclave, he should have refused to accept the central fund and accepted monies from the AKG Centre, the State head quarters of CPM.
There are allegations that the whole tamasha was for the business development of a publication house. No writer worth his salt was seen. For example, no prominent writer from the realm of children’s literature participated in the session for that segment. *
