THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Writers know the pain and concerns of people and hence, governments should work along with them for the public good, writer M Mukundan has said. He was speaking after receiving the Kerala Assembly’s Award for Overall Contribution to Literature from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. He said he would stand with the government and the chief minister to work for a new Kerala.
Responding to the criticism he received while he accepted the president post of Kerala Sahitya Akademi, he said: “The popular notion is that writers should distance themselves from governments and those in power.
When the Pinarayi government appointed me as president of Sahitya Akademi, some people criticised it. They said writers should not stand with the government.
I asked them who else then, if not a writer, should lead the akademi. Should it be a businessman or a factory owner?” It is a wrong notion that writers should not stand with power, Mukundan said. “Cuban President Fidel Castro’s soulmate was writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
They exchanged ideas and criticised each other. India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s close friend was writer Mulkraj Anand. Nehru had a large friend circle comprising writers and artists. It should happen in Kerala as well,” he said.