Deliberating on writer’s decision to call it quits

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The cultural fraternity of Kozhikode came together on Tuesday to express solidarity with Tamil writer Perumal Muragan.

Mr. Murugan had quit writing recently following violent outbursts against his work ‘Madhorubhagan’ (One Part Woman) from conservative religious and political outfits.

A meeting organised by the Janakeeya Kalasahitya Vedi in Kozhikode was attended by cultural leaders and writers such as Khadeeja Mumtaz, K.E.N. Kunhahammad, K. Ajitha, C.M. Kesavan, Ashraf Kuruvattur, K.N. Ajoy Kumar, R. Mohanan, and Jeevan Thomas.

Vedi State president K.A. Mohandas, in his presidential address, said Mr. Murugan’s decision to quit writing was not the personal matter of a writer. The outbursts of certain groups against the writer were an infringement on the citizens’ human and democratic rights.

“We feel that Kerala, being so literate and politically conscious, will not be affected by this kind of interference. But the fact is that we are all fear-gripped,” he said.

Mr. Mohandas criticised the ‘manufactured sensitivity’ that made a mob out of society. Vested-interest groups misused this in the pretext of democracy, he said. “This has happened all over the world. With the increasing saffronisation of our coastal belt, it would not be a wonder if someone triggered violence against Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai’s Chemeen on the ground that it insulted the fishing community,” he said. He attributed the strengthening of caste politics in Tamil Nadu to the weakening of Dravidian politics.

P.K. Venugopalan of the vedi said the book, Madhurobhagan, was not criticised in 2010 when it was first published, or in 2013, when the first English edition was published.

“Writers and intellectuals all over the world have fought resistance from conservative elements. But a writer putting an end to his creative life due to it was a first-of-its-kind incident, he said. Free thinkers all over the world should express their solidarity with the writer and encourage him to write again, he said.

The Janakeeya Kalasahitya Vedi says Perumal Murugan’s decision to quit writing is not the personal matter of a writer.

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