THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ONV Kurup commemoration meeting held by the Thiruvananthapuram District Congress Committee has drawn flak from a section of local party leaders.
They questioned the need to hold a commemorative meeting for the poet who compared former prime minister Indira Gandhi to a dog following her assassination. Congress state president K Sudhakaran informed the disgruntled leaders that a probe would be held.
The meeting was held under the aegis of DCC head Palode Ravi at the committee office. Writer Perumbadavam Sreedharan and UDF convener M M Hassan attended. For long, there have been complaints against Congress for not encouraging cultural activists, writers, and poets.
Palode Ravi took up the initiative to hold the memorial meeting last Monday, but the five state Congress committee office-bearers belonging to Thiruvananthapuram and executive committee members were not informed about it.
They recalled that a vernacular daily had sought a poem from ONV after Indira Gandhi was assassinated but he declined. It carried a news report the next day quoting ONV as saying, “Everyday, dogs die after being hit by vehicles. Does that mean a poem should be written?”
Palode Ravi told TNIE that it is unfortunate that a section of Congress leaders have raked up a controversy. “ONV is a Jnanpith awardee, the highest literary award in India. He had spent his whole life promoting Malayalam language. As the district Congress chief, I felt it was my responsibility to commemorate his death anniversary,” said Palode Ravi.
Hassan told TNIE that ONV had an allegiance with the CPM and had politics, but he was above all a poet who stood for humanity. “The Congress has always stood for cultural heritage. Sugathakumari came from a Congress family and had always patronised the party. At the same time, she had valued the principles of the Left. But that doesn’t mean that we have to sideline her. There is nothing wrong in commemorating ONV’s death anniversary as Congress wishes to encourage cultural and social activists irrespective of their political affiliations,” said Hassan.