New Delhi: Famed Malayalam writer C. Radhakrishnan resigned from the Sahitya Akademi on April 1 in protest against the decision to have the latest annual festival inaugurated by a Union minister – junior culture minister Arjun Ram Meghwal.
Radhakrishnan, according to a report by Indian Express, has alleged that Meghwal lacks any known credentials in literature. However, the Akademi has said that he is an author in his own right.
Minister of State for Culture, Meghwal had inaugurated the 39th edition of the annual Sahityotsav which took place between March 11 and 16. The mega event reportedly had over 1,100 writers and scholars who took part in 190 sessions.
Radhakrishnan, a noted writer who burst into the literary scene with this 1959 novel Nizhalppadukal, has written several novels and plays since and has won multiple awards.
The 85-year-old told Indian Express that his decision to quit was in protest “against political interference in the running of the Akademi”. He said his protest was not against a particular political party but the culture of politicising the body.
Radhakrishnan also alleged that the two other Akademies – Lalit Kala Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi – “have already lost their autonomy” to political interference.
The Sahitya Akademi’s president, Madhav Kaushik, has said in a statement that information given in Radhakrishnan’s resignation letter is misleading.
Press Release : President’s, #SahityaAkademi, say on the comments of Dr. C. Radhakrishnan.@rashtrapatibhvn @PMOIndia @kishanreddybjp @arjunrammeghwal @M_Lekhi @MinOfCultureGoI @secycultureGOI @ksraosahitya @PIB_India @PIBCulture @MIB_India @DDNational @_IndianCulture pic.twitter.com/zviSpFYXEI
— Sahitya Akademi (@sahityaakademi) April 1, 2024
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Kaushik said that contrary to Radhakrishnan’s claim that minister Meghwal was “without any known credential whatsoever in literature,” Meghwal is a writer and “well versed in Rajasthani and Hindi.”
The Akademi claimed Meghwal has extended “full cooperation in various capacities for recognition of Rajasthani as an Indian language in the VIIIth Schedule of the Constitution”.
The Akademi also said that while Radhakrishnan’s claim was that this is the first time that minister have impinged on the autonomy of the Akademi, many ministers have been involved in its functioning earlier.
However, Radhakrishnan did respond to this claim.
“Sure, anyone who writes at least a letter, is a writer,” he told The Hindu. “I haven’t heard this name mentioned in literary circles and I am not aware of any news regarding any recognition given to him.”
