Maha govt withdraws award to Kobad Ghandy's book ‘Fractured Freedom’ translator; urban naxal world cries foul

Mumbai, Dec 15: Several so-called progressive Marathi authors handed over resignations in protest over the Maharashtra government’s withdrawal of an award to Anagha Lele for her Marathi translation of alleged Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy’s book ‘Fractured Freedom’.

 

This came after the government’s Marathi language department on December 6 announced the Yashwantrao Chavan Literature Award 2021 to Lele for her translation of Ghandy’s ‘Fractured Freedom: A Prison Memoir’. However, the next day, Deepak Kesarkar, minister in charge of the department, stated that he would “investigate” how the award was given, and on December 12, a government resolution (GR) stated that the award to it will be withdrawn.

 

Kesarkar said, "Everyone has freedom of thought. Nevertheless, the exaltation of Naxal thoughts is not acceptable to our government. For us, the nation comes first. Literature has the freedom of writing. But what is banned cannot be written. There is a different process of banning. Although there is no ban on the book ‘Fractured Freedom’, Naxalism cannot be glorified in the state. Maharashtra is the first state to crack down on Naxalism."

 

Further, he added, "100 percent recruitment among Naxalites was coming from our tribal brothers, which has stopped now. In such a situation, society cannot forgive the literature that is written in favor of Naxalites and some people participate in the literature that is made in such a situation created by urban Naxalism, pretending that "we are doing something different from the world". Under no circumstances can Naxalism be glorified by the state government."

 

This followed several resignations by the so-called Marathi authors. Author and chairman of the state government's Language Advisory Committee, Laxmikant Deshmukh, announced that he was stepping down from his post in protest.

 

 

Three members of the award selection committee also resigned from the state Literature and Culture Board citing "insult of democratic procedures". The three authors - Dr Pradnya Daya Pawar, Neeraja, and Heramb Kulkarni - were also members of the award selection committee that was scrapped by the government.

 

 

 

Sharad Baviskar and Arun Shevate are among other Marathi writers to protest the government’s decision to withdraw the award given to Kobad Ghandy’s book’s translation. Sharad Baviskar has also returned his award to the state government. It is notable that Baviskar is a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

 

 

It is pertinent to mention that Ghandy was arrested in September 2009 from Delhi. As a Politburo member, he was charged with carrying terror attacks including an attack on a team of elite anti-Maoist commando unit Greyhounds at Gunurkayi village in Visakhapatnam in 2008. When in jail, he wrote his memoirs under the title ‘Fractured Freedom’. The book was published in 2021. After this book was published, the CPI-Maoist called him a traitor.

 

The proscribed Left-wing outfit CPI (Maoist) expelled its politburo member and former member of the Central Committee, Kobad Ghandy, from the organization. In a statement purportedly issued by CPI (Maoist) spokesperson Abhay on November 27, 2021, Ghandy was accused of espousing the path of spiritualism, denouncing Marxism as having no good values, and abandoning the Maoist ideology. The CPI (Maoist) accused him of projecting the entire movement in poor light in the book ‘Fractured Freedom – A Prison Memoir’.