BENGALURU: Ahead of the inaugural of Bangalore Literary Festival on Saturday, a few Kannada writers have questioned the motive behind writer-historian Vikram Sampath’s decision to step down as an organiser.
In a letter, writers Dayanand T K and Arif Raja have said, “Who sought the renouncement of his position? Definitely not us. This was his personal decision. It is not becoming of him to point fingers for his personal decision,” they said.
They criticised the reactions by Vikram following remarks by Kannada writer Nagabhushana Swamy that Kannada writers are ignored at the festival. “When Swamy highlighted this, instead of trying to make it right, we were branded by the organisers and by Vikram Sampath as ‘tolerance mafia’ . They are exhibiting their intolerance,” they said.