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) 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.
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 |