KOCHI: We are living in an age where mobs are imposing ban on creative works. It is not the government that banned The Hindus, an Alternative History and Sivaji, Hindu King in Islamic India. Perumal Murugan was silenced by the caste fundamentalists. I fear we are living in the last golden hour, said writer N S Madhavan while delivering the keynote address at the Krithi Literary Festival at Bolghatty Palace on Thursday.
There is no open protest against the oppression by the ruling class. Only Phanishwar Nath 'Renu' and Styabratha Sinha spoke against Emergency. Renu returned the Padma Shri and went to jail. In Malayalam M Krishnan Kutty, Ayyappa Paniker and Satchidanandan protested through their allegories, he said.
Madhavan reminded people who try to portray Donald Trump as comedians that General Franco of Spain and Hitler were initially thought to be comedians. In today's world there are only isolated incidents of protest like the suicide of Rohit Vemula and the protest at the Oscar Award function. This may turn out to be the final incidents of dissent, said Madhavan.
'Dalit literature not secessionist'
"The murder of tribal youth Madhu is not the first incident of atrocities against the Dalits. The Kerala society has beaten to death many Madhus. We the tribals are the objects for you the civilised people to kick and stab to death," said Kerala Sahitya Akademi award winner and tribal writer Narayan.
Anyone can grab the tribal land, because they won't possess any valid document for the ownership of their land. I would like to request people who want to write about tribals to study their lives. People who write about them should study their past," he said while conversing with writer Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar on 'Writings from the margins' at Krithi Literary Festival.
Earlier writers M R Renu Kumar, K K Baburaj, Ajay Sekhar and Narayan participated in a discussion on 'Dalit literature.'