Gujarati Writers, Readers Condemn Sahitya Akademi’s Vilification of Poem on Ganga Corpses

The Wire Staff

A group of writers and readers of Gujarati literature has issued a statement against a recent anonymous article published in the Gujarat Sahitya Akademi’s journal, Shabdsrushti. This article, the signatories believe, is an attempt to “issue an indirect threat to Gujarati writers indicating in an authoritative voice what they should write and what they should not write”.

Without naming it directly, the article in question had criticised a recent poem by the renowned Gujarati poet Parul Khakhar, titled ‘Shabvahini Ganga’. In the poem, Khakhar had expressed grief and concern on reports of dead bodies floating in the Ganga river as the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the country. It received a lot of attention very quickly, was widely shared and translated into several Indian languages. The poem made waves internationally too: the Guardian ran a piece on it and the leading German newspaper Frakfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published a translation last month by scholars Shalini Randeria and Ilija Trojanow along with their commentary on it.

As The Wire has reported, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was furious over Khakhar’s poem and the attention it was getting. Though she had once been hailed as “the next big icon of Gujarati poetry”, she became the latest target of the BJP IT Cell’s troll army by right-leaning litterateurs in the state after the poem was published.

The Gujarat Sahitya Akademi too joined in, publishing the article that had called the poem an example of “pointless angst” circulated by “literary Naxals”. While the article was published anonymously, the Indian Express reported that Akademi chairman Vishnu Pandya had confirmed that he had written it, and with Khakhar’s poem in mind.

The autonomy of the Akademi, the signatories of the statement believe, has been destroyed by the Gujarat government. The anonymous article on Khakhar’s poem, to them, was not an example of legitimate criticism:

“The anonymous writer makes outrageous statements such as ‘the poem is bad though the poet is good’, and through such insinuations attempts to issue an indirect threat to Gujarati writers indicating in an authoritative voice what they should write and what they should not write. This is reminiscent of the time of The Emergency (During the Emergency in 1975 newspapers and journals had to be approved by government officials) and is absolutely condemnable. This is beating the pen with the hammer, a death knell for the right to freedom of expression of Gujarati writers.”

The Akademi, by joining this bandwagon of voices against Khakhar’s poem, is attempting to “create an atmosphere of hostility towards writers who engage in creative activity in a democratic manner and become the voice of contemporary times as well as towards hundreds of thousands of readers of Gujarati literature who appreciate the writings of these writers”, the signatories argue.

The full statement and list of signatories is given below.

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Press Release, 19 June 2021

Statement by Writers and Readers of Gujarati Literature About Threats Issued Against Them in the Journal ‘Shabdsrushti’

Gujarat Sahitya Akademi whose autonomy was wrested by the Gujarat government, which then turned it into a government institution, publishes a journal named Shabdsrushti. The June 2021 issue of Shabdsrushti carries an anonymous piece of writing titled “No, This Is Not a Poem, It Is Misuse of a ‘Poem’ for Anarchy…” on page 89. The necessary obligation of writing the author’s name is not honoured which should be deemed immoral, criminal and dangerous according to government procedures.

It is perfectly legitimate for a writer to write about a specific poem in his or her name, to express views on it and to criticise it. Criticism, debate and dissent are the strength of a healthy democracy. However, this writing offers a vague criticism “about one Gujarati poem” without naming it. Similarly, without naming the poet it mentions patronizingly that she has been a beneficiary of the Akademi in the past.

The anonymous writer makes outrageous statements such as ‘the poem is bad though the poet is good’, and through such insinuations attempts to issue an indirect threat to Gujarati writers indicating in an authoritative voice what they should write and what they should not write. This is reminiscent of the time of The Emergency (During the Emergency in 1975 newspapers and journals had to be approved by government officials) and is absolutely condemnable. This is beating the pen with the hammer, a death knell for the right to freedom of expression of Gujarati writers.

Moreover, the accusation that this poem has encouraged anti national “literary Naxals” and destructive elements that are trying to create anarchy in the country, and are involved in anti-national activities by shooting off the poet’s shoulder is extremely shocking. Through such accusations the anonymous writer attempts to create an atmosphere of hostility towards writers who engage in creative activity in a democratic manner and become the voice of contemporary times as well as towards hundreds of thousands of readers of Gujarati literature who appreciate the writings of these writers. In an attempt to gag the glorious literary tradition of Gujarat this government-controlled institution, which functions in a democratic structure, has opened the floodgates for a practice that goes against the interests of the people and has a dangerous and fascist tendency which we strongly condemn.

We believe that to write poetry in a democratic tradition, to be a custodian of society through writing poetry, to debate contemporary issues, to criticize actions or inaction of those in power through writing, is also an important part of a healthy democracy. Recalling what the Supreme Court said a few days ago that to criticize the government is not sedition, we appeal to the editor of Shabdsrushti, chairperson of Gujarat Sahitya Akademi and the government of Gujarat to withdraw this writing which is a blot on the Gujarati language and Gujarat.

Statement signed by:

Aatish Indrekar Chhara, Abhijit Joshi, Abhijit Vyas, Aditi Desai, Amit Dave, Amita Shah, Amitabh Madia, Amrit Gangar, Anand Mazgaonkar, Anand Pandya, Anandvardhan Yagnik, Anil Joshi, Babu Suthar, Barin Mehta, Bhanubhai Purohit, Bharat Mehta, Bhargav Oza, Bhavana Ramrakhyani, Bhavik Raja, Bina Jadav, Bindu Prasad, Bipin Patel, Bipin Shroff, Chandu Maheriya, Chinar Shah, Dakxin Chhara, Dankesh Oza, Dev Desai, Dilip Dholakia, Dipak Doshi, Dipti Joshi, Divyasha Doshi, Diwan Thakor, Dwarikanath Rath, Francis Parmar, Gala Joshi, Gargeya Trivedi, Gaurang Jani, Ghanshyam Shah, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Hajibhai Baadi, Hanif Lakdawala, Harish Brahmbhatt, Harish Mangalam, Hemant Shah, Hemantkumar Shah, Himanshi Shelat, Hiren Gandhi, Ila Joshi, Iliyas Shaikh, Indira Hirway, Ishwarsinh Chauhan, Jagdish Patel, Jagrut Gadit, Jatin Sheth, Jayanti Patel, Jayesh Dudhrejiya, Jayshree Soni, Jharna Pathak, Jignesh Mevani, Joseph Mecwan, Jyoti Bhatt, Kabir Thakore, Kalpana Sutariya, Kalpesh Dalal, Kamal Vora, Kamlesh Oza, Kanji Patel, Kartar Sinh, Kaushik Amin, Kaushik Mehta, Ketan Rupera, Dr. Kiran Chauhan, Kiran Trivedi, Kishor Goud, Kusum Dhabi, Kusum Popat, Lalubha Chauhan, Madhavi Desai, Madhubhai Bhavsar, Madhusudan Vyas, Mahashweta Jani, Mahesh Yagnik, Mallika Sarabhai, Manhar Oza, Manilal Gala, Manishi Jani, Manjari Meghani, Meenakshi Joshi, Mehboob Desai, Mehul Devkala, Mehul Manguben, Miki Desai, MInal Dave, Mohan Trivedi, Nafisa Barot, Natubhai Nimbark, Natubhai Parmar, Natwar Gandhi, Neha Raval, Neha Shah, Nikhil Gandhi, Nirjhari Sinha, Pallavi Gandhi, Pancham Shukla, Pankti Desai, Panna Erasmus, Panna Naik, Parth Trivedi, Persis Ginwalla, Prabodh Parikh, Prafull Raval, Prakash N. Shah, Prasad Chako, Pratishtha Pandya, Pravin Pandya, Preety Sengupta, Raja Pathak, Raman Soni, Rajesh Thakar, Rajni Dave, Raju Patel, Ramesh Bapodara, Ramesh Oza, Ramesh Savani, Ramsagar Parihar, Reeti Shah, Rohit Prajapati, Ruchir Joshi, Rupa Mehta, Rupali Burke, Ruta Shah, Sahil Parmar, Salil Tripathi, Samir Bhatt, Samiksha Trivedi, Sandhya Bhatt, Sanjay Bhave, Sanjay Chhel, Sanjeev Shah, Saroop Dhruv, Saumya Balsari, Sharifa Vijaliwala, Sheba George, Shefali Balsari Shah, Sidhdharth Gujarati, Subhash Joshi, Sudhir Chandra, Sukhdev Patel, Suman Shah, Svati Joshi, Swati Desai, Swati Goswami, Takhubhai Saandsur, Tanmay Timir, Timir Amin, Urvish Kothari, Utpala Desai, Uttam Parmar, Vaibhav Kothari, Vajesinh Parghi, Varsha Ganguly, Veena Pandya, Vijay Mehta, Vipool Kalyani, Yagnesh Dave, Yashwant Mehta, Yoseph Macwan, Zakia Soman

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Voice from Heaven: A Sequel to Parul’s Poem ‘Shav Vahini’

L.K. Sharma

Come ye Indians, you have a chance.

Come to our wonderous land to

breath and laugh, sing and dance.

We were brought here by Ma Ganga.

Here it is all changa! Truly changa!

Come ye Indians, young and old!

Come to this Land of silver and gold.

You don’t know it but you have become

your own enemy, we are told.

Internet poisoning has sickened your soul.

All izz is not well. Not well.

Here we are having Good Times.

Come and see. Come and see.

And the best is yet to be.

The Supreme Being released us from

earthly bondage. He called on

Ganga Maiyya to bless our souls.

The Mother came rushing, embraced

us all, carried us for a million miles

and deposited us in this Heaven.

We left the Land of Lies where we

lived as the living dead. Reduced to

that state in the Republic of Fear

awash with blood and drops of tear.

There we saw violent mobs, perennial

conflict and performing politicians

selling snake oil.

The trollers made our blood boil.

They called poets anarchists and

murderers patriots. At times,

they went beyond trolling, which led to

obituaries in literary journals.

Those who refused to make literature

serve their cause met this fate.

We saw uniformed humans with

microchipped brains selling souls.

We heard of separatist farmers,

seditionist students, subversive journalists,

misguided workers, dissenting academics,

and ex-bureaucrats turned letter-writers.

We have left all that behind.

Here we are not abused. No barbed wire,

no smoke and no smell of gun powder.

The air is pure. We need no vaccination

against Corona or Communal Virus.

No caged parrots, no lapdogs.

No tax inspectors, policemen

and spies doing His bidding.

No buccaneering businessmen.

No bungling bureaucrats.

No frightened journalists.

No kneeling officers.

No bending judges.

No fawning heroes.

No fake news. No inflammatory views.

No stories to sell. No killer IT Cell.

No one out to grab a public sector

unit and buy your soul.

No one masquerades, wearing a mask.

No whacky beliefs. No blind believers.

No power-crazy man idolised.

We are not prompted to troll, shout

abuses, throw stones and kill.

We feel peaceful, listening to the sacred

music and watching a green hill.

We are not forced to show fake piety,

faux nationalism and proof of

citizenship. Not taught to hate Nehru

and to hail Nathuram.

Nor forced to shout Jai Shri Ram!

We have escaped the screaming

TV anchor who turned us deaf.

We are rid of pointless debates

descending into whataboutery.

Here we remain true to our faith that

has millions of Gods and numerous

sacred books. We feel like Hindus,

away from those who hijacked

our noble faith and turned it into

a weapon of identity politics.

Hindu prayers are free of the

ungodly association with politicians

who made us ashamed of our religion.

We feel liberated, liberated from

your political Godman.

We eat, drink, speak, write and wear what

we like. We are safe.

Our religion is safe. Life is perfect. It is a fact.

Heaven has no Other. We are one.

No pollution, no din. Only achhe din!

The Pied Piper playing Jumla Jingles

can’t reach us.

This is the promised place.

The place you dreamt of in 2014, hoping that

India will be. It was not to be.

What could you do since you were

infantilised, told that in 70 years

you have never had it so good.

Till 2014 your plate had no food.

You were starved while termites

were fed, that is what you were told.

You were told the state built

kabristans but no shmashans.

And this led to the crisis of 2021

when Ganga flowed with bodies.

A Gujarati poetess wrote on us and

the sacred river turned into a hearse.

You trolled her heavily because

she called your Emperor naked.

You charged her with “urban naxalism”.

The state literary akademi

ruled that Parul’s poem was no poetry.

You defend your religion and nation by

indulging in violence against the other

while suffering the Government’s

misdeeds in silence. You protect both

from the internal enemies “conspiring”

to persecute the majority!

You feel protected by the Saviour.

As nationalists, you place the Saviour

above all. You obey Him and live in thrall.

Like him, you know nothing about right

and wrong. If he gives a stirring call,

you are ready to give your all.

You are there not to question but to die.

You have no choice.

Hail or go to jail! You will get no bail.

Addicted to political porn, you

sleepwalk to the polling booths on the

appointed day to vote for the one

who has nothing new to say.

You know now how it is to live in Hell.

You bear it well because you are trained

not to grumble but to shout:

Hell is Swell! Hell is Swell!

Dutifully, you repeat with him thrice.

It is so nice! It is so nice! It is so nice!

You can’t break the spell.

Nor could we. Covid broke it for us,

as the broken health system

went killing while

the Leader kept electioneering.

Now oxygen has run out.

You will not be able to stick around

till the elections in order to hail the

Leader and watch his coronation.

Covid made us migrate. It turned out

to be a blessing in disguise.

Heed our warning.

return to Reason. Abandon fear.

Don’t be moved by drops of tear.

Take your voting cards and run.

In 2024, ghosts are set to appear.

They will use your cards, if you

leave these there.

Come ye Indians, come and

enjoy with us in shiny sun and sand.

Get away from your Gaga Land!

(Courtesy: Mainstream Weekly.)