Rebels to hold parallel Sammelan

MUMBAI, Jan 10: Allegations of casteism and the politics around it have generally marked most recent Marathi Sahitya Sammelans, but the i...

MUMBAI, Jan 10: Allegations of casteism and the politics around it have generally marked most recent Marathi Sahitya Sammelans, but the ideological war among Maharashtra8217;s litterateurs and intellectuals promises to acquire larger dimensions this year than ever before. For the first time ever, a section of litterateurs has announced a parallel literary meet to coincide with the 72nd Marathi Sahitya Sammelan to be held at Shivaji Park between February 5 and 7. Its organisers have exhorted people to boycott the meet at Shivaji Park.

Called Vidrohi Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, the meet has been organised chiefly by those litterateurs and readers 8220;subscribing to a progressive philosophy that stands for the literature of the downtrodden, Muslims, workers and women.8221; The parallel meet is to be held at the Dharavi municipal school on February 7. Contents of the meet will be finalised soon.

8220;The event at Shivaji Park is the literary meet of people who subscribe to the chaturvarna system, to Manu8217;s thoughts, tocapitalism and of those who have always disregarded the works of people like Saint Tukaram, Charwak, Bahinabai and many others,8221; said Professor S V Jadhav, one of the organisers. 8220;It is a meet of people with shendi hair knot and janva religious thread worn chiefly by Brahmins, and ours is that of people with lathi stick and ghongdi a rough cloth,8221; he said.

The organisers of the Dharavi meet 8212; Vaharu Sonavne, Sagar Sarhadi, Vivek More, Avinash Kadam and others 8212; have in their joint statement accused most 8220;established8221; read belonging to the higher castes Marathi litterateurs of not addressing problems of the economically backward and the Dalits in their writings. 8220;We regard this as literary politics. None of these writers ever wrote anything about the fact that so many farmers committed suicide in the state recently,8221; said Jadhav.

The organisers of the Dharavi meet are also opposed to the monetary help that organisers of the Shivaji Park meet have accepted from the state government. TheShiv Sena-BJP government has sanctioned Rs 25 lakh for the event. The Dharavi meet will be organised with the help of donations.Meanwhile, noted historian and writer Y D Phadke has welcomed the idea of a parallel literary meet. 8220;I have not attended a single Marathi literary meet after 1977, simply because there is always some kind of political interference or the other, which I do not like,8221; he has said. Phadke is of the opinion that litterateurs could come to such meets on their own and that there was no need to accept any funds from the government. About 1,500 people 8212; around 150 known litterateurs among them 8212; are expected to attend the Dharavi meet. Beginning this year, the meet would be an annual event.