Sangh presence: M A Baby opts out of Jaipur lit fest

Thiruvananthapuram: Senior CPI-M leader, M A Baby has turned down the invite to the Jaipur Literary Fest, scheduled to be held from January 19 to 23, citing the presence of two Sangh Parivar representatives.

"Rubbing shoulders with those who spread religious and ideological hatred and violence in theory and practice is unethical and improper," Baby, a Polit Bureau member said in a letter to the organisers of the lit fest.

Baby had been invited as a panelist in a session at the fest and the sangh representatives were in another session at the literary gathering.

Though admitting that in a democratic polity, everyone deserves to be heard and one should be willing to interact with ideological streams of different kinds, he said, however, "here it is not just another ideology but the ideology of a theocratic state of Hindu Rashtra."

"It is almost similar to 'Islamic State' and already showing manifestations of annihilating democracy," Baby said in the letter adding "Historically too, this ideology has shown their affinity to fascist forces."

Recalling the murder of Dr Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and Dr M M Kalburgi for the democratic, progressive, secular and scientific views they held and propagated, he claimed that similar threats are being launched against many others.

The latest in this dangerous and sinister approach is the "verbal violence" unleashed by some BJP leaders against Kerala's well known writer and Jnanpeeth winner M T Vasudevan Nair, for his objection to demonetisation.

"It goes without saying that in a democratic polity, every citizen has a right to criticise matters affecting their life.

This is what BJP and Sangh Parivar are unwilling to accept," he said.

"Dark clouds of extreme forms of authoritarianism and physical and verbal violence are looming large in the horizon of our society.

This in turn is threatening the idea of India and a world of peace, friendship and justice," he added.