Extramarital affairs should be acceptable: Marathi novelist Bhalchandra Nemade

Acclaimed Marathi novelist and Jnanpith award winner Bhalchandra Nemade has said that extra-marital affairs should not be a taboo.

"There should not be any objection if a married man or a woman has a lover," Nemade, who is known for speaking his mind and stirring up controversies, said during a public interview in Pune on Sunday. He was talking in the context of Indian marriage system.

Critiques Avinash Sapre and Prachi Gujar-Padhye interviewed Nemade, a staunch supporter of indigenous values and traditions, at the inauguration of a book gallery. Explaining his stand on man-woman relations, Nemade cited the example of Draupadi from Mahabharat.

"We have had an ancient tradition of open relationship ...The definition of marriage did not change in accordance with the changing times. There shouldn't be any objection if a married person has a love-mate (outside the marriage)," he said.

Nemade, the author of 'Kosla' and the latest 'Hindu: Jaganyatil Samruddha Adgal' (Hindu? a prosperous junk in life), also opposed the Maharashtra government's decision to confer the state's highest award, 'Maharashtra Bhushan', on the history writer Babasaheb Purandare.

"I feel the portrayal of Shivaji in Purandare's work is not in keeping with the history. I have respect for Purandare but I have a different image of Shivaji in my mind," he said.