Less than literary

The war of words that has broken out between Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and the delegates at the 72nd All-India Marathi Sahitya Sammelan can only bode ill for the state8217;s artistic temperament. Coming as it does on the heels of the skirmishes involving Shiv Sainiks over the screening of Fire and the very feasibility of the Indo-Pak cricket fixtures as well as the proposed bus service between Delhi and Lahore, the hullabaloo over the Mumbai meet raises very serious questions about democracy and the attendant freedom of expression. But it also calls for a long overdue debate on state patronage and writers seeking assistance from the very regimes their words of dissent are targeted at 8212; as also the widespread practice of disbursing government aid based on the artistes8217; political inclinations.

At the heart of the current controversy is the Maharashtra government8217;s budgetary grant of Rs 25 lakh to the literary conference and Thackeray8217;s insistence that this largesse implies an unstated quid pro quothat the delegates refrain from criticising the regime. Reacting to eminent Marathi poet Vasant Bapat8217;s stringent criticism of the rising intolerance and the 8220;stifling of freedom8221; in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena chief has hit back in characteristic style with the choicest invective from the one pulpit he believes should enjoy unfettered freedom of expression, the Saamna editorial, by likening the assembled litterateurs to 8220;bulls on sale8221;. No doubt the caricaturist is alive to the irony that Bapat8217;s assertion that people have the power to ensure 8220;remote controls are snatched away and broken up8221; was made at Shivaji Park 8212; from where the Sena juggernaut launched a successful bid for power. In fact, with assembly elections on the horizon, Thackeray is obviously seeking new issues to outrage his dispirited rank and file and electrify his dwindling votebank.

But the current feud also calls into question the wisdom of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in accepting the Rs 25 lakh grant, whichBapat insists cannot be construed as government assistance but should be seen as the taxpayer8217;s money. Admittedly, literary conferences are virtually impossible to organise with mere delegate fees and the state has a responsibility to bolster such ventures; but given the Marathi cultural establishment8217;s thorny relations with the Shiv Sena regime, surely the Sammelan must have seen this controversy coming. So much so that while most writers have rallied around Bapat, Jnanpeeth awardee V.V. Shirwadkar denounced aid for literary meets and a parallel gathering was organised at Dharavi. In fact, Mumbai8217;s cultural doyens themselves have a none too exemplary record of dissent. Not long ago the intelligentsia closed ranks after M.F. Husain8217;s works were vandalised and he was painted as an enemy of the faithful. Recently, he struck his own peace with Thackeray by inaugurating an exhibition of paintings by his nephew Raj. These are the inscrutable ties votaries of freedom of expression have to debate.