KMB ’14 provides space and support for mass reading from his withdrawn book
Kochi, Jan 17: Eminent writers, film makers, musicians and political activists came together today under the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 umbrella to express their solidarity for Tamil writer Perumal Murugan through a mass reading of a portion of his withdrawn book ‘Madhorubhagan’. Gathered at the Aspinwall Pavilion, they lauded the biennale foundation for creating “a space for artists to voice protest”.
In a programme that reflected the creative nature of its speakers—with wry humour, song and of course, dismay—the participants emphasised the need to voice protest against the suppression of free expression, where the Namakkal-based Murugan felt cornered by protests and threats to declare that the writer in him was “dead” and urged his publishers to withdraw his books from stores.
“It comes down to a question of our survival,” said writer N S Madhavan, who led the reading. “There is too much of a silence against the issue of by the two big political parties in Tamil Nadu. Creative people feel obliged to exile themselves in situations such as this; we should stand together to prevent this.”
CPM leader and writer Simon Britto agreed that the government was bending to the pressure of the powerful Thevar community, who feel that a woman of the community was badly depicted. “In today’s world, and in fact soverign, socialist, secular India, a writer has his neck on the line and his assassin is waiting at the tip of his pen,” said Britto.
But while the speakers, including filmmaker Kamal, award-winning music director Bijibal, scriptwriter Shibu Chakravarthy, activist T N Joy and radical-movement artist K Raghunathan voiced their protest, composer-singer Shahabaz Aman turned the mirror inwards.
“Writer Madhavikutty felt stifled in spite of the presence of eminent creative people such as us,” said the flamboyant singer, who lent his voice to the KMB ’14 signature film. “On the other hand, youngsters pick up the smallest issue on social media today and the authorities feel obliged to take it up in some way. This reading is a protest against ourselves and a tribute to Madhavikutty.”
He finished off with his popular Malayalam ghazal, which suggests that “the fires of hell and the gardens of heaven are all in our imagination”.
The speakers and the audience then read aloud from the novel’s English translation‘One Part Woman’. The novel has been caught up in protests over the past week with some groups seeking a ban on the book, published in 2010, claiming that it denigrates Hindu deities and women devotees, and the author subsequently issuing a Facebook declaration that the writer is “dead” and “Perumal Murugan should be left alone”.
“The Kochi Biennale Foundation considers it our responsibility to address the most pertinent issues of the day and the ‘History Now’ seminar forum looks at history as a point of understanding the past and departure to the future,” said KMB ’14 director of programmes Riyas Komu. “We take energy from the presence of political, social and creative voices and the engagement they bring to Kochi. We will always try to protect the autonomy of the artiste.”
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