India's present scenario resembles McCarthy era in the US, says Shashi Deshpande

Noted writer Shashi Deshpande, who had resigned from the Sahitya Akademi General Council over "rising intolerance", today said the present scenario bore a "dreadful resemblance" to the McCarthy era in the US, when nobody was exempt from being probed.

"Today's scenario bears a dreadful resemblance to the McCarthy era in the US, when its government played on the public's fear of communists. Nobody was exempt from investigation and questioning. Writers and artists especially were blacklisted," Deshpande said.

In her keynote address at the inauguration of the fourth edition of 'Bangalore Literature Festival' (BLF) here, Deshpande said there was a deep divide between writers and this "polarisation is visible today, in India."

Deshpande was among the first to protest "rising intolerance" in the wake of killing of Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi and the Dadri lynching episode, with several writers hitching on to the 'Award Wapsi' bandwagon.

The Bangalore Literature Festival had come under a cloud weeks before its start, as its director, historian and author Vikram Sampath resigned from the festival's organising committee.

Sampath's action came after few writers complained that they would boycott the festival as they disagreed with his opinion on the 'award-wapsi' campaign and on 18th century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan, who is perceived as a "religious bigot" by some and a modern and secular ruler by others.

Techie-turned-writer Sampath's critical views on both issues were not taken kindly by some writers.

Deshpande said she disagreed with the popular opinion that writers were insulting the award by returning them.

"It is not disrespect, but is in fact a sacrifice," she said.

"The awards are a writer's most precious possession and to give them up is to give up what they love the most. Their sacrifices were aimed at drawing attention to something important happening in the country," she noted.