BENGALURU: Condemning the protests against writer Perumal Murugan’s novel ‘One Part Woman’, writers and literature enthusiasts came forward to express solidarity to the writer at Lekhana 2015, a weekend literary event, on Sunday.
Indira Chandrasekhar, who helms a short story magazine called ‘Out of print’, said, “One of the points that Lekhana is making is that you have to support literature and express solidarity to the voices that are being silenced.”
Author Gita Aravamudan, author, journalist and activist, observed, “It is a love story about a married couple who are passionately fond of each other. But the society makes them feel inadequate because they don’t have children. They do everything possible to get a child. Then finally, their mothers decide to take them to a temple where with the help of a deity, they can get her impregnated.”
She added that it is wrong to accuse Murugan of maligning his community.
“The love for his own environment can be felt in every sentence that he has written, every imagery of his. The only reason he said that the writer Perumal Murugan is dead because he didn’t want to be exiled from the place he loves.”
Lekha Naidu, an artist, said, “As an artist, as somebody who believes in having their own mind, I thought it relevant I took part in this event I have even picked up the book. I want to see what all the hullabaloo is about.”