Kerala - Kannur

Congress forum criticises M. Mukundan

Staff Reporter

The litterateur had portrayed the Left as protectors of artistic freedom

KANNUR: Kerala Sahithya Akademi chairman M. Mukundan’s remarks that artists would not have come under attack in Baroda if the Left forces had support base in Gujarat has expectedly not gone down well with sections critical of the Left.

Inaugurating a gathering of painters organised here on Saturday by the district unit of the Purogamana Kala Samithi to protest against the attack on artists in Gujarat, Mr. Mukundan defended film actor Mammootty’s statement that Gujarat violence would not have occurred if organisations like Democratic Youth Federation of India had its presence there.

Fascist forces would gain strength whenever the Left forces were weakened, he said at the function and called for the unity of the Left forces.

Mr. Mukundan also said the artists had been attacked with a clear agenda as all fascist parties were apprehensive of the artists and writers. He said calculated efforts were on to expunge M.F. Hussain from history.

Witch-hunt against Mr. Hussain exposed the brutal face of fascism, he added.

In a statement here on Sunday, the district unit of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Vichar Vibhag said that the Sahithya Akademi president’s efforts to portray the Left forces as protectors of artists was little more than propaganda. Citing the recent expulsion of poet K.C. Umesh Babu from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for writing a poem, the statement said the critical attack on Arundhati Roy for a remark on E.M.S. Namboodiripad in her novel ‘The God of Small Things’ was a clear example of the CPI(M)’s intolerance.

It said that Mr. Mukundan had conveniently forgotten how the Left had treated him as well as his literary contemporaries O.V. Vijayan and Anand.

KPCC Vichar Vibhag district president Balachandran Keezhoth presided over its meeting.

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