Goa poet courts trouble over book questioning Brahmins

Goa poet, former BJP MLA Vishnu Surya Wagh, is being hounded for his book of Konkani poems titled Sudhir Sukta published in 2013. In fresh trouble for the bedridden poet, women’s NGO Bailancho Ekvott has filed an FIR against the poet and his publisher, Apurbai Prakashan, for the book’s “abusive content” and for “portraying women in a bad light”.

The book questions Brahmins and has apparently stirred the volatile caste divide between Goa’s dominant Gaud Saraswat Brahmins and the majority Bahujan Goans.

Since August 15, after a jury member revealed that the book had been selected as the winner of the Goa Konkani Academy Award, a campaign on social media has seen some of its verses being lifted and shared “out of context”, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday.

The state BJP government recently even cancelled all 32 undeclared literature and culture awards, including one for Wagh, due to objections “over the procedure of shortlisting of books for the awards” and the controversy over Sudhir Sukta.

On the recent FIR, The Indian Express quoted inspector Sudesh R Naik of Ponda police station as saying: “We have read the poems that were brought to us and we think they are not in good taste. The complaint was only registered after we were convinced it did, and can, offend someone.” The police now plan to approach “experts” and the office of the Directorate of Official Language to “probe” the etymology of the “abuses and explicit language” used in the poems.