‘As a proud Indian, I will stand up for my rights’
In the last month, over 40 Indian authors and poets have made headlines around the world as they returned their awards and prize money to the country’s prestigious Sahitya Akademi.
Eloquent: Shobhaa De in conversation with Ashok Ferrey
The authors are united against what they believe is a growing atmosphere of intolerance in India. All went on record to lay the blame for fanning communal tensions firmly at the door of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Author Shobhaa De has no award to return, but last week in Colombo in a conversation with author Ashok Ferrey at the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors’ (SLID) annual dinner, the author did not hesitate to throw in her lot with the protesting writers.
She said she would not accept an award from the State even if it were offered. She then described allegations made by the BJP government that the protest was a Congress party conspiracy as “nonsensical.”
Answering a question from an audience member, De explained her stance: “This is a very mischievous way of converting genuine pain and anger against what’s going on because the writers who decided to return their awards were responding to a grisly murder of a defenceless man in a village called Dadri, and they were responding to the targeted murders of three writers who were shot dead.”
The first incident she referred to occurred in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh where a Muslim man was murdered and his son beaten in September over rumours that they had consumed beef.
The second reference is likely to writers M.M. Kalburgi, a noted rationalist scholar who was gunned down at his home in August, and to the killing of Govind Pansare in February and Narendra Dabholkar in the August of 2013.
All three men were well known critics of superstition, casteism and Hindutva. Their murderers are yet to see justice.
“The writers are returning their awards to show their utter contempt for a lack of safety not just writers but citizens can take for granted in the present environment,” said De condemning the comments made by the Minister of Culture Mahesh Sharma who suggested that the writers simply stop writing.
“It is a very insensitive and a very stupid thing he [Sharma] said and I hope more writers continue to return their awards,” De declared.
De has never shied away from speaking her mind, particularly on Twitter where between 2010 and 2015 her number of followers has grown from 30,000 to over 500,000.
This dramatic multiplication of influence is not because, or at least not entirely because, she is a novelist.
While her books have their fans, theyhave earned the Bombay socialite comparisons to Jackie Collins and unflattering nicknames like the Maharani of Malice, the Empress of Erotica and the Princess of Pulp. However, De has in recent years established herself as a regular commentator on Indian affairs.
She has penned chatty yet forthright national columns for outlets like Times of India, Mumbai Mirror, NDTV and Deccan Chronicle and appears regularly on television panels.
At the glamorous SLID event, De was in fine form as she sat down to an interesting conversation with Ashok Ferrey. With a question on the freedom of the press, Ferrey dived right in to a subject dear to the author’s heart.
“I will not surrender my freedoms. At no cost will I surrender them,” De responded emphatically, “if there is an attempt to snatch those freedoms from me and other citizens, inch by inch, centimetre by centimetre, if we start buckling under we are no better than a banana republic.
I don’t want that to happen to a country with so much potential and one that I am so proud of. I am a proud Indian and as a proud Indian I will stand up for my rights.”
Her thoughts on the continuing vulnerability of women to sexual violence seemed to resonate with the audience as she criticised the Indian state for doing precious little with the 1000 crore-fund set up to support women.
She said she resisted putting the onus of responsibility on one gender, arguing that she would never ask her daughters to learn martial arts to defend themselves.
“It is the duty of our state to protect us, to protect each man and each woman, that’s what our constitution guarantees us. Why should I make my daughters live in a country in fear?” she asked with some heat. “I won’t let the state off this easily. Let them do their damn job first.”
As applause rippled through the room, it was clear many agreed with her. After the sessions, she was surrounded by admirers.
In the end, the evening was a demonstration of how De continues to woo audiences – though her comments tend to lean more toward provocative and populist than carefully considered or nuanced, the author definitely knows how to amuse and engage a crowd. Even her most determined critics will readily admit that much.