India: Kannada writer arrested for remarks on Lord Ganesha in his novel 'Dhundi' | Kannada writers concerned over rising intolerance

India Today
Kannada writer arrested for remarks on Lord Ganesha
Vanu Dev | Mail Today | Bangalore, August 31, 2013
Kannada writer Yogesh Master at the launch of his controversial book Dhundi.
Kannada writer Yogesh Master was arrested after local Hindu outfits lodged a complaint against him for allegedly hurting the sentiments of Hindus by depicting Lord Ganesh in poor light in his novel 'Dhundi'. The Hindu outfits had lodged the complaint against 45-year-old Yogesh, who was arrested on Thurday evening.

The Bangalore police have booked the writer under Section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and 298 (uttering words etc. with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings) of the IPC.

After spending a night behind the bars at the Kalasipalya police station, Yogesh was produced before the VIII Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACCM) court, Bangalore, on Friday which granted him conditional bail. The court imposed restriction on the sale and exhibition of the novel.

Noted writer Banjagere Jayaprakash, who had released Dhundi on August 21, was the first to criticise the arrest of Yogesh. "This is a wrong precedent. Arresting a writer is not the appropriate action to express dissent. I condemn the arrest. This is the first time that a Kannada writer has been arrested because a few Hindu groups are not happy with his book," he said.

Incidentally, Jayaprakash had to face widespread criticism from Hindu activists following the release of his controversial book 'Anudeva Horaganavanu'.

Another Kannada writer, Baraguru Ramachandrappa, too criticised the police action. "This issue could have been dealt with in a civilised manner instead of seeking his (Yogesh) arrest. What have the complainants achieved by getting him arrested? The need of the hour is to maintain peace," he asserted.

A delegation of Kannada writers is expected to meet Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah soon to express their concern over the episode and draw his attention towards the growing intolerance of the Hindu outfits in Karnataka.

When reached for his comment, Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah tried to skirt the issue. "I am not aware of the issue. I cannot comment on it," the chief minister said. Besides writing novels, Yogesh is also a painter and theatre personality. His literary works include 'Jojo Laali', 'Dooridhoori', 'Antarakshi', 'Shubha Raathri', 'Jeevana Sanjeevana' and 'Samanaanthara Rekhegalu'.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/kannada-writer-arrested-for-remarks-on-lord-ganesha/1/304714.html

o o o

The Hindu
BANGALORE, August 31, 2013
Kannada writers concerned over rising level of intolerance

Muralidhara Khajane

Jnanpith-award winning writer U.R. Ananthamurthy has expressed dismay over the interim injunction against the sale, distribution, circulation or reprint of the Kannada novel Dhundi by Yogesh Master.

“Had this been the yardstick to judge a literary work, I should have been arrested long ago and Samskara and Bharatipura should have been banned for hurting the sentiments of Brahmins,” Prof. Ananthamurthy said. He said he would not like to react to the controversy as it involved a court decision.

Prof. Ananthamurthy said he had spoken to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and expressed his disappointment over the arrest.

‘Read the book’

The former president of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Chandrashekar Patil, said instead of taking the legal recourse, the critics of the work should allow people to read and judge what was right or what was wrong with the book.

“The work should be read and discussed and it is the readers who have to evaluate the merits, not the administrative machinery, especially the police,” he said. “These developments have pained me.”

Larger questions

Writer Banjagere Jayaprakash said that the writer was irrelevant and the questions were much larger.

“What is bothering is the shrinking of radical thinking space and the hegemony of right-wing forces on the social discourse,” he said. “Level of intolerance is rising in society.”

He said it was “a knee-jerk reaction.”

Nothing new

Controversies surrounding literary works are not new in Kannada, though this is the first instance of a writer being arrested.

One of the earliest controversies in the post-Independence period was around Masti Venkatesh Iyengar’s novels Channabasava Nayaka and Chikaveera Rajendra published in the fifties.

Incurring the wrath

Both incurred the wrath of the numerically strong Lingayat community. Samskara (1965) and Bharatipura (1973), two popular works of Prof. Ananthamurthy, incurred the wrath of the Brahmin community.

Gulbarga University withdrew Mahachaitra by H.S. Shivaprakash, which depicted the 12th Century social reformer Basaveshwara in 1995. Dharmakarana by P.V. Narayana became controversial in 1996, a year after it was published, when it won an award, leading to its ban.

Mr. Jayaprakash withdrew his book Aanu Deva Horaganavanu after it became controversial in 2007. Gandhi Banda by H. Nagaveni landed in controversy 12 years after it was published, when it became prescribed for study in Mangalore University in 2012.