Writers have responsibility towards language:Ashok Vajpeyi

Renowned Hindi Poet and essayist AshokVajpeyi today said animation of language is essential for poets and writers have responsibility towards language.
"Animation of language is essential for poets. Writers have responsibility towards language. Poetry is being urbanised and that paradigm of democracy havedeeply affected poetry because literature is being created in a democraticset up", he said, commenting on 'Contemporary Indian Poetry.'
He was participating in a discussion on "Contemporary Indian Poetry" on the concluding day of the four-day Kerala Literature Festival-2016 here today.
Vajpeyi lamented that there has been little amount of great works in poetry. In Urdu,there was no poetry on Dalits and Arabic did not have religious poetry.

"Contemporary will mean substantiality", he said.
K Jayakumar, Leena Manimekalai, Meena Kandaswamy with moderatorK Satchidanandan were the other litterateurs who participated in the discussion.

Meena Kandaswamy felt that contemporary meant inclusion of everything andVajpeyi's views on the subject was deviating fromtradition and contemporary was being pluralised.
"How can we talk about greatness when people discriminate using caste. I'd rather fly low than beinghigh up and not being able to be responsive".
Leena Manimekalai said both Tamil or English poetry expresses the feelings of transgenders, gays and lesbians and and also Dalits.
Jayakumar said one cannot be contemporary without being relevant and modern.

"English churns out everything because there is no guardian. English poetry is free. Poetry must be written in one's own language. Great poetry comes out of interrogation and contemplation," he said.