MANANTHAVADY: Writers always walked along with the left movement and not the other way around, said writer K R Meera at the Wayanad Literature Festival on Sunday.
At a session with Minister M B Rajesh on the concluding day of the festival, Meera said she didn’t mean any particular political party but the broad left movement in general. “It is that perspective that always ignites writing,” she said, adding that one cannot become a writer without upholding human dignity and freedom.
Meera said it is politics that defines every aspect of life. “Literature doesn’t have an existence without politics and vice versa. The aim of my writing is to reflect the hopes and concerns of the people,” she said.
The award-winning writer said those who show aversion to politics have leniency towards a particular brand of politics.
Rajesh said politics need not necessarily be imposed from the outside but is ingrained in writing. To a question from the minister as to why the motif of fear looms large in her writing, Meera said it is easy for a woman to understand fear because she is brought up in an atmosphere of fear in the family. “Dismantling patriarchy is a precondition for the establishment of true democracy,” she said.
Rajesh noted the brooding atmosphere in Meera’s novels may have been influenced by the traumatic experiences resulting from developments like the demolition of Babri Masjid and the Gujarat riots.
Hema report not ‘men vs women’: Arundhati Roy
Writer Arundhati Roy, in a conversation with actor Parvathy Thiruvothu, said the Hema Committee report cannot be made into a men versus women issue. “We are looking for a climate of change and culture, not just criminal action,” she said. Roy said that even though women in Kerala are financially independent and join the workforce, they are still so much less free.
“In Kerala, women have financial freedom, but there is a generational guilt in having this freedom,” Parvathy said. The actor added that at least it has begun to “stink” and there is “noise” in Mollywood. The silence scares her more, she said.
“There was no conversation or committee being formed and the collective had to keep nagging,” she said.
Actor-activist Prakash Raj said the murder of journalist Gowri Lankesh was a decisive moment in his life, which made him raise his voice louder.
Speaking at a session with journalist Dhanya Rajendran, Raj said he had political views but when a friend like Gowri was killed he could not remain silent.
“I said at that time you can kill a voice but a more powerful voice may emerge” he said.
Senior journalists Shashi Kumar and A S Panneerselvan, TNIE editor Santwana Bhattacharya, AFP South Asia deputy bureau chief Peter Martell, The News Minute CEO Vignesh Vellore and Himal Southasian’s editor-in-chief Roman Gautam attended a session on the future of journalism.