Naxalism Won’t Be Tolerated
- 17-Dec-2022
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New Delhi: In the eye of a storm since it withdrew a literary award to the Marathi translation of Indian communist activist Kobad Ghandy’s book Fractured Freedom less than a week after announcing it, the BJP has come out all guns blazing to defend the decision of the Maharashtra government in which it is a coalition partner.
The Late Yashwantrao Chavan State Literary Awards for 2021 were announced on December 6, with Anagha Lele’s Marathi translation of Ghandy’s book fetching her the Tarkatirtha Laxmanshastri Joshi Award and a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000.
It was withdrawn on December 12. As the panel that selected the recipients of the annual awards over 35 categories had been set up by the Maharashtra State Board for Literature and Culture during the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government also dissolved the committee, citing ‘administrative reasons’.
Ghandy was arrested in September 2009 on charges of being a Politburo member of the banned CPI(Maoist). After spending a decade in jails across the country, a Delhi court acquitted him of all UAPA charges in June 2016 and, in October 2019, he was released on bail from Surat jail.
A BJP leader said, The equation is simple. There are certain things the state won’t tolerate at any cost. There is no room for debate. In the name of literature, we can’t tolerate ideas that question the Constitution of India.
