Organizers of Kannada literary festival in Karnataka criticized for ignoring Muslim authors
Bengaluru, January 07 (KMS): Demonstrating their bias against Muslims, the organizers of Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana (All India Kannada Literature Conference), in the Indian state of Karnataka have ignored the Muslim authors and litterateurs.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the 86th All India Kannada Literature Conference, organised by the Kannada Sahitya Parishat, was inaugurated on Friday with much fanfare in Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s native city Haveri. However, the organizers of three-day literary festival are facing criticism on social media for sidelining the Muslim writers and litterateurs.
The social media users condemned the biased approach of the organisers in the selection of panels, achievers for felicitation.
In the poet convention also, not a single Muslim writer has got the opportunity and the Byari language spoken by Muslims of coastal Karnataka has not been considered. Even there was discussion on other dialects such as Konkani, Soliga, Tulu and Kodava.
Kannada activists and like-minded litterateurs while opposing this biased approach towards Muslim writers are organising a single-day parallel literary conference in Bengaluru on Sunday (January 8). They have decided to make well-known Kannada writer Bhanu Mushtaq as the President for the convention. The convention has been named as ‘Jana Sahitya Sammelana’ (People’s Literature Convention).
Dalit writer and retired bureaucrat, Moodnakoodu Chinnaswamy will inaugurate the conference being held at the premises of the Alumni Association near K.R. Circle in Bengaluru.
During the conference, the subjects such as ‘Domination and politics on food’, ‘Attacks on minorities and Dalits’, ‘Responsibilities of Literature world’, ‘Contribution of Christian Missionaries to Kannada language’ will be presented.
It is to mention here that Kannada Sahitya Sammelana is the premier gathering of writers, poets and Kannada lovers. It is held with an aim of preserving and developing the Kannada language, art, culture and music. The Kannada Sahitya Parishat is an organization that promotes the Kannada language and its literature. Mahesh Joshi is its current President.