Political row takes sheen off ‘City of Literature’ declaration event in Kozhikode
UDF councillors claim Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan chose to stay away from the event as he did not want to share the stage with writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair
A political controversy involving Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seems to be taking the sheen off the recent official declaration of Kozhikode as the country’s first Unesco ‘City of Literature’.
The Kozhikode Corporation, which was in the forefront of efforts to get the prestigious tag for the city, wanted Mr. Vijayan to make the official declaration at an event earlier scheduled for June 22. He was also supposed to hand over an award marking the diamond jubilee celebrations of the civic body to writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair. It was presumed that the Chief Minister would certainly make it to the event as he was also scheduled to address the Kerala NGO Union’s State conference in the city on the same day.
However, on June 20, the Corporation authorities held a press conference to declare that Minister for Local Self-Governments M.B. Rajesh would make the declaration on June 23. It was claimed that the Chief Minister would not be able to attend the event due to a “sudden inconvenience”. Councillors aligned to the United Democratic Front (UDF) soon smelt a political angle to the development. They claimed that Mr. Vijayan had chosen to stay away from the event as he did not want to share the stage with MT, who had criticised “ritualistic worship of leaders in power” at the inaugural event of the Kerala Literature Festival in the city in January. The writer’s remarks were then interpreted as a criticism against Mr. Vijayan.
Pointing out that the Corporation authorities had been waiting for the Chief Minister’s appointment to organise the event, the UDF councillors said Mr. Vijayan had shown disrespect to the writer. Councillors of the BJP too raised similar views. The Unesco had declared Kozhikode as the ‘City of Literature’ around eight months ago.
The UDF councillors also refused to share the stage with Mr. Rajesh during the event held at the jubilee hall on June 23. They claimed it was to mark their protest against the government, which had been withholding many projects proposed by the Corporation. Meanwhile, MT could not attend the event due to ill-health, and Mr. Rajesh presented the award to him at his residence.
Another section of cultural activists has also highlighted the absence of prominent writers from the event. Except for poet-lyricists Kaithapram Damodaran and P.K. Gopi, no notable literary figures were present.
Mayor Beena Philip termed the UDF attempt to politicise the event “unfortunate”. She pointed out that the Chief Minister had promised all help for future activities related to the ‘City of Literature’ status bestowed on Kozhikode. He would also attend the next event related to it, she added.
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