Nayantara invite as lit fest chief guest rescinded due to anti-govt speech

NAGPUR: A prepared speech highly critical of the Modi government was the reason why writer Nayantara Sahgal was “disinvited” from the upcoming annual Marathi literary meet.

Although objections raised by the MNS and a local “secular” satrap to a “non-Marathi” writer were cited on Monday as reasons for the withdrawal of the invitation to her, it turns out that the organisers developed cold feet on seeing the speech the 91-year-old chief guest had prepared for the conference to be held this week.

Sahgal, a niece of Jawaharlal Nehru who was at the forefront of the “award wapsi” campaign in 2015, had submitted her speech for the three-day Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan to the organisers in advance. She was to inaugurate the conference in Vidarbha’s Yavatmal district on January 11 in the presence of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The Maharashtra government provides a grant for the annual literary meet.



In her speech, which went viral on Monday, Sahgal launched a scathing attack on the Modi regime, alleging that an atmosphere of fear and intolerance was pervading India.

“All our freedoms are in danger... This has adversely affected everything we do: What we eat, whom we marry, what we think, what we write, and how we pray. Anything that asserts diversity and goes against the thinking of the ruling establishment is under attack,” she stated.

Writer Nayantara Sahgal told TOI on Monday that no reason was given to her by the organisers of the 92nd Akhil Bhartiya Marathis Sahitya Sammelan for un-inviting her. “ I was just informed in a letter that the invitation was being withdrawn,” she said.

Amid demands for the organisers to apologise and re-invite Sahgal, Sahgal told a TV channel she would now not accept any invitation. The organisers issued an apology late on Monday. Working president of the sammelan Ramakant Kolte said the invitation to Sehgal had been withdrawn only to ensure the festival was conducted in a peaceful manner. Sahgal told TOI she was not surprised that she had been un-invited — “So many concerts, literary, cultural and history-related meets have been cancelled in the last couple of years. There definitely was a lot of political pressure on organisers to withdraw the invitation.” Sahgal’s address said the Constituent Assembly, made up largely of Hindus, had decided India could only be a secular, democratic republic. However, “today a move to confine us into a single religious and cultural identity is threatening this diversity,” she wrote.