Before Maharashtra withdrew award, 2 bodies ‘with RSS links’ objected to Kobad Ghandy memoir

The withdrawal of a Maharashtra government award to the Marathi translation of Kobad Ghandy’s prison memoir over “administrative reasons” has triggered a controversy within academic and literary circles, and its translator Anagha Lele surprised.

“It is very unfortunate as well as surprising because this is only the second case of cancellation of a state award. The award was declared on the basis of merit of translation and the withdrawal was for a totally different reason, which is illogical. I had read the book before accepting this project and didn’t find anything objectionable in it,” saidLele. “Social media buzz was considered more important than the expert committee's opinion, which is very surprising.”

The book – Fractured Freedom: A Prison Memoir – by Ghandy was an account of his experience in jail, where he spent a decade after being accused of being a Maoist ideologue involved in terror plots. Ghandy had released the book last year, nearly 18 months after he came out of prison. Published by Roli Books, it had never courted controversy. But days after the Maharashtra government's Marathi language department announced the Late Yashwantrao Chavan Literature Award 2021 on December 6, to Anagha Lele for her translation, the move was criticised on social media over accusations against Ghandy, and the award was subsequently withdrawn on December 12.

After announcement, a tweet and a letter

Soon after the announcement about the award, the Legal Rights Observatory, run by former RSS pracharak Vinay Joshi, tweeted its objection tagging chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on December 8. “Outrageous..Uddhav Thakre govt has finalized literary award 2021 to bloody Naxal terrorist Kobad Ghandy’s Marathi Translated book.We urge Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis to immediately put hold on it. Ghandy is responsible for killing hundreds including Maharashtra Police Jawans.”

On December 9, Nagpur-based English daily called Hitvad reported the LRO’s tweet, attributing it to “netizens”. “The netizens have demanded the state government to put hold on the award,” the report said. 

“We initiated the issue and it was then followed by the media. We are not here to take the credit but we are thankful to everyone who raised concern…he is a terrorist and it’s shameful that some people are saying that withdrawing the award is suppression of freedom of expression. If they are going to promote such efforts, I will not even shy from doing violence at such programmes,” said Joshi, who had in 2018 written to the National Security Council Secretariat headed by Ajit Doval for police protection to complainants in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. 

A letter was then sent on December 9 to the government’s Marathi language department by Narendra Pathak, who was also part of the scrutiny committee which initially cleared the book for consideration by the award committee, on behalf of the RSS-backed Akhil Bhartiya Sahitya Parishad. Pathak was earlier in the news for being appointed as a society member in the Film and Television Institute of India in 2015 under the chairmanship of actor Gajendra Chauhan – the appointments of several others from an RSS background had subsequently led to protests by students.

“The job of the scrutiny committee is to verify the applications…and then forward them to the award committee. The scrutiny committee checks them on technical grounds for eligibility…the committee cannot recommend any book for the award. However, when we came to know later that an award had been given to the book, I and other members of Akhil Bhartiya Sahitya Parishad collectively decided to oppose it and wrote to the ministry to withdraw the award,” Pathak said.

It was the same day that Pathak wrote to the government that Deepak Kesarkar, Maharashtra’s minister of education and Marathi language, announced that the government will probe how the translation was awarded. Three days later, the government withdrew the award and scrapped the selection committee, with the move triggering disquiet in literary circles, and several writers deciding to return their awards.

Sadanand More, author and chairperson of the Maharashtra literature and culture board, said, “The award has been withdrawn by the government because it believes that particular book justifies or glorifies Naxal movement. The scrutiny committee which qualified and forwarded the book to the award committee later wrote to the Marathi ministry headed by minister Kesarkar to withdraw the award.”

Meanwhile, author and former IAS officer Laxmikant Deshmukh on Wednesday announced his decision to step down as chairman of the language advisory committee in a letter to Maharashtra minister Deepak Kesarkar. Four members of the award selection panel also quit, including authors Dr Pradnya Daya Pawar, Neeraja, and Heramb Kulkarni and Sadhana editor Vinod Shirsath. And Marathi authors Anand Karandikar and Sharad Bawiskar have announced to return their awards in protest.

Writers Suhas Palshikar, Vivek Ghotale and Ganesh Chandanshive announced separately on Thursday that they were quitting the panel which advises the government on policies for promoting Marathi.

Anand Karandikar, who had received an award for his book Vaicharik Ghusulan, said, “First of all that book doesn’t glorify Naxalism, and secondly, the award was for translation. There was a government-appointed committee of experts which chose the book…the minister has no business declaring his own authority and withdrawing the prize. This is against freedom of expression, freedom of writing, and should not be tolerated.”

Ghandy was cleared of all terror charges in June 2016 and was released on bail in October 2019. He had released the book over an year after he came out of prison. Watch this session moderated by Abhinandan Sekhri to hear the activist talk about the memoir, which details his long incarceration, his fellow prisoners, and why he chose the path of activism instead of corporate finance.