Goa regional writers to launch stir to back controversial book

The controversy over former BJP MLA Vishnu Wagh's book of poems, 'Sudhir Sukta', attacking Goa's elite Gaud Saraswat Brahmin caste, refuses to die with vernacular literateurs and friends of Wagh hitting back with a sustained campaign backing the book and its author and publisher.

The campaign by Sahitya Academy award winning writer N. Shivdas and others has drawn up a 21-point programme called 'Sudhir Sukta jagor', which includes translation of the poems in multiple languages, poetry readings in all 40 Assembly constituencies and creating awareness about the controversial passages in the book which are critical of injustices committed by upper caste Hindus against lower castes in Goa.

A jagor is a traditional Goan version of a wake, which is conducted by rural communities, among both Hindus and Catholics, in honour of the local deities.

"As part of the 'Sudhir Sukta jagor', we will host a reading session of poetry from the book in the remotest of villages, so that awareness is raised about what Wagh has written," Shivdas told IANS.

'Sudhir Sukta' is a collection of poems penned by Wagh, which took graphic and, at times, raunchy pot-shots at the influential Goud Saraswat Brahmin community and brought to fore faultlines in Goa's relatively insidious but omnipresent caste hierarchy.

The book was incidentally released in 2013 by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who incidentally hails from the same community.The book was shortlisted for an award by the Goa Konkani Academy. But two weeks back, after the controversy emerged, the state government scrapped all 21 state awards, including the one for which 'Sudhir Sukta' was shortlisted.

Chief Minister Parrikar has, however, maintained that the awards were cancelled due to procedural lapses and 'conflict of interest' issues.

Last week, a FIR was also filed against Wagh by a women's group, which alleged that some of the poems denigrated women.

"We will also campaign against the FIR which was filed against the award winning poet. This is nothing but harassment of the writer who is currently laid up because of successive heart attacks," Naik said.

Another organiser of the 'Sudhir Sukta jagor', Devidas Amonkar, said that as part of the awareness campaign, the poems were being translated into multiple languages so that more and more people have access to the contents.

"The book is currently out of print. So, it will be reprinted in Konkani because there is a high demand for the book. The book is already translated into English and Irish. We are also translating it in Hindi, Marathi and Malvani (a dialect of Marathi)," Amonkar said.

Amonkar also said that while the state government had cancelled the award slated for Wagh's book, the poet would be felicitated by the organisers of the jagor.

"We will also be felicitating the publisher of the book Hema Naik, who has also been named in the FIR," he said.

"The book depicts and reflects suffocation of natives of the soil and the injustices they faced or are facing from the dominant forces," Amonkar said.

--IANS

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