Frontline
February 1999
Special Report

A voice of 'our own'

Mumbai saw three separate Marathi sahitya sammelans in a span of just nine days this year. From Jan 30 to February 1, was the Sakal Sahitya Sammelan, from February 5 to February 7 was the ‘official’ Marathi sahitya sammelan and the last was the Vidrohi sahitya sammelan on February 7. While the last two sammelans had consciously chosen a separate platform in order to express protest both against the official sammelan and the government, for different reasons, the official sammelan itself erupted into a controversy with a showdown between Thackeray and the Marathi poet, Vasant Bapat.

Though both sammelans were protests against what was considered Marathi ‘mainstream’ literature, Sakal’s was a protest against exclusion of the diverse groups emerging and struggling to find voice in the Marathi literary scene. The Vidrohi sahitya sammelan took a more aggressive stance against what it called Brahminical literature which had been passed off as ‘mainstream’ literature and called to recognise the working class, Dalit and other backward group literature as the true mainstream literature. Ironically, all three sammelans finally were united in their firm attack against the fascist forces operative in the government in Maharashtra today.

Sakal (meaning all embracing)
sought to include a variety
of voices. It had, right from
its inception an implicit
stance: "Let hundred flowers blossom, Let hundred schools of thought contend." It looked closely at the voices operating at the fringes of the literary world. For instance, the Muslim OBC movement which has made the caste factor in politics trans–religious, the dalit movement which is undergoing a metamorphosis, Adivasis and Bhatka and Vimukta (nomads) who are asserting their identity and non–Hindus who are waging their struggle for linguistic rights and challenging the monopoly over language by the upper caste Hindu majority.

These different shades and trends of social and political movements were felt to share an ideology that democracy is not just a political system but a living vibrant value system which is capable of fighting the fascist value system of the ruling clique.

Bapat vs. Thackeray

The 72nd Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, raked up a huge controversy that resulted in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) finally withdrawing the grant of Rs.10 lakh to the sahitya sammelan after the sammelan.

The controversy began with Vasant Bapat’s criticism of the government,(on the second day of the sammelan) which he said was "stifling freedoms of thought and expression" of litterateurs in Maharashtra. Bapat said that writers should not have to write under the pressure of the government and criticised the government for having taken on for itself, complete authority over deciding what constitutes social benefit.

Thackeray in the Saamna of the very next day, said, he wanted no criticism of the government or the ideology and functioning of the parties that run it, from the litterateurs. "Return the 25 lakhs (that had been granted by the Maharashtra government for the sammelan), then criticise the government". Bapat however, lashed out at Thackeray saying, it was the taxpayer’s money and not his own. "Since when did the Shiv Sena pramukh become someone who gives money? I thought he only takes money." "I spit on such money", he added emphatically. Other writers at the sammelan echoed his protest and clarified that no charity was being done to the writers or the cause. Bapat also called Thackeray an autocrat and wondered, "How do people tolerate this dictatorship? But it won’t go on for long; the feeble have the courage to pull down the strongest of autocrats."

Thackeray had more to add in response the next day, when he likened the sammelan to a bull market and the litterateurs to bulls for sale. "Bulls should not fix their own price. It’s the buyer who does that." He also added in continuation of the crass tone, "Wise men should be hit with words. But even if these litterateurs are hit with chappals, the chappals may tear, but they will remain the same."

Though Bapat refused to comment further, the comment generally infuriated the world of literature who condemned Thackeray’s statements. The president of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal, Vasundhara Pendse Naik, said, "In a democracy, one can say exactly what one thinks. However, how one says it depends on one’s personality and culture. It is for the listener to form an opinion about the user of such language."

Ram Shewalkar, a former president of the sahitya sammelan, in protest against Thackeray’s remarks against the litterati, asked the chief minister, Narayan Rane to clarify the government stand on Thackeray’s remarks. If the government did not dissociate from these views by March 1, he said, he would resign from membership of four government committees. The participants of the Vidrohi Sahitya Sammelan also called upon writers to immediately resign from government bodies and committees, in protest against Thackeray’s remarks.

Sakal opposed the official Sammelan, which was government sponsored, but left participation entirely up to individual writers. Their contention was that the welcome address note at the official sammelan was to be read by the chief minister of the state although the chief minister and his party had time and again shown scant respect for freedom of expression and creation. Besides, his and his party’s anti–Muslim, anti–dalit stand had been amply manifested.

Sakal’s maiden attempt was organised at the Babasaheb Sanskrutik Kendra, a Dalit institution at Andheri.Prof. Pushpa Bhave, noted literary critic and social crusader became one of the chief spokespersons of ‘Sakal’.

The Sammelan was inaugurated by veteran noted feminist writer, Ms.Kamal Desai, who said that the writer was king and should not surrender before any ruler. In the session, ‘Social Context of Marathi Literature’, on the first day of the sammelan, Prof. Mungekar spoke of fascism and the bourgeois state and the need to fight the system in totality and strengthen those forces in literature who opposed the system. Fakruddin Bennoor, Ajit Magdom, Niranjan Ujagare showed how Muslims, Jains, and Christians have enriched Marathi language and Marathi culture. They smashed the notion that Marathi language was the linguistic property of the Hindus.

The session on ‘Modern Maharashtra’s intellectual heritage’ held on the second day, by Avdhoot Paralkar and Medha Kulkarni stressed the reformist, radical and liberal tradition of Maharashtra.

The third day’s session upheld not only plurality of expression, but the pluralism presented in terms of class, caste, gender, character which was at variance with the projection of ‘pseudo–mainstream majoritarianism’.

The sammelan ended with Ratnakar Matkari declaring that the Sakal Sahitya Movement had begun. The priority before them all now, was the creation of literature as the answer to bad, reactionary, fascist literature was after all, good, progressive, secular, revolutionary literature.

The Vidrohi Sahitya Sammelan on the other hand, was a one day meet. They boycotted completely the official Marathi sahitya sammelan and brought together writers, poets, dramatists and social activists, who wished to revolt against oppression and exploitation. The Sammelan was aptly

held in Dharavi, where the toiling masses live.

The sammelan clearly distinguished between two distinct streams within Marathi literature. One, the established Marathi literature, the so–called mainstream, which caters mostly to the middle–class. The other, the peoples’ literary stream. This stream included literature of the exploited class, the workers, peasants, socially oppressed categories like the Dalits, women and many others. The history of Marathi literature they declared, is replete with examples of the contemptuous behavior of the so–called mainstream towards this section — a result of the influence of the exclusive Brahminical culture. And it was this same culture and value system that the established Marathi literary stream and its conferences, had for years together, represented. The Vidrohi Sahitya Sammelan, was a protest against this culture and its value system. The sammelan’s stance was that of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, expressed as far back as 1885, "your literature and our literature can never came together. Therefore, we will develop our own literature and will hold our own conferences."

Various streams in Marathi literature had sprung within the folds of this literature: Dalit, Rural, Tribal, feminist, Christian, Muslim, Jain. Two common threads joined these various streams: all these streams represented literature produced by the oppressed sections of the society and all these streams expressed themselves in Marathi. The purpose of the Vidrohi Sahitya Sammelan was to bring all these streams together and strengthen this united stream, which they held as the actual mainstream of Marathi literature.

The sammelan also felt that this effort towards unity had a topical importance in view of the attacks on freedom of expression which had reached levels clearly indicating signs of fascism. The Vidrohi Sahitya Sammelan was a step towards organizing a united fight against fascism. The Sammelan was attended by nearly 2500 writers and performing artistes from all over Maharashtra. Two debates on the current Marathi literary scene and the necessity to develop alternatives and challenge the establishment brought forth several important points. The Sammelan was concerned not only with written literature, but also with the various oral traditions of communications. Kabir’s poems were rendered by the noted singer Neela Bhagwat. The Sammelan was presided over by the revolutionary, eminent writer Baburao Bagul. Eminent personalities who attended the Sammelan included Prof. Y.D. Phadke, Pushpa Bhave, dramatist Ratnakar Matkari, editor Nikhil Wagle, working class leader Ahilya Rangnekar, RPI leader Ramdas Athavale, scholar Nalini Pandit and many others.

Reports by

Rajiv Kalelkar & Hemu Adhikari


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