Dissent voices continued to pinch the government and the central executive committee of Kannada Sahitya Parishat (KSP) on the third and concluding day of 85th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelan here on Friday.
Filmmaker B. Suresh, before beginning his actual speech on social responsibility of television media in a session on cinema and Kannada literature, raised the issue of recently held Chikkamagalur District Sahitya Sammelana which right-wing forces had attempted to disrupt condemning the selection of Kalkuli Vittal Hegde, an environmental activist and writer, as its president.
“A few people attempted to disrupt the Chikkamagalur District Sahitya Sammelana. They threatened to attack the Sammelana premises with petrol bombs and police used it as a pretext to force the organisers to cut short the two-day event to one day. Those who threatened to attack with petrol bombs are the real terrorists. Police did not arrest them. The central executive committee of Kannada Sahitya Parishat did not extend its support and cooperation to its district unit. It did not release the funds for organising the event. It is wrong on the part of the central committee of KSP to deny the funds to its district unit for organising the literary fest,” he said.
As he finished his speech, Manu Baligar, president of KSP, emerged behind the podium to respond to Mr. Suresh.
“Many people are targeting me over what happened in Chikkamagaluru district Sahitya Sammelan. I have never interfered in the affairs of district units of KSP. I have never asked the Chikkamagaluru district unit of KSP to change the president of district Sahitya Sammelana. It is true that I had asked them to postpone the event for 2-3 months considering the threats and frictions over the selection of the president for the literary fest. They defy me and went ahead to hold the event,” he said.
Mr. Baligar justified the non-release of funds to the Chikkamagaluru literary fest by stating that he would be accountable to each and every rupee received from the government and the public. He also accepted that Kannada and Culture Minister C.T. Ravi had asked him to deny funds to the Chikkamagaluru event.
“Though we are an autonomous body, we cannot spend public money at will. We will have to be accountable each and every rupee received from the government and people. It is true that Mr. Ravi had asked me not to release the funds for Chikkamagaluru district Sahitya Sammelana. But, I disagreed with him. If the district units of KSP hold programmes in a proper way, releasing money is a matter of just five minutes for me,” he said.
A day before, Mr. Baligar had said that he did not want to waste the money on a literary fest that would be disrupted, referring to the Chikkamagaluru sammelana.