Venue for Marathi Sammelan leads to protests

PUNE: The selection of San Francisco in the US as the venue for the next edition of the Marathi literary convention (sammelan) has already set off a chain of protests with a large section of writers, readers and publishers opposing the decision.

Those opposed to the venue contend that it would be practically impossible for the common reader of Marathi literature to cross the shores to attend the eagerly awaited literary event.

Even as the Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal accepted the invitation from "Bay Area" Association of Maharastrians in the US to hold the 82nd Sammelan there, a wave of protests engulfed the Marathi literary scene with publishers, who put up their stalls at the Sammelan venue for book sales, deciding to challenge the move in Mumbai High Court through a PIL.

The last edition of the Sammmelan, the most prestigious event in the cultural calendar of Maharashtra, which was attended by the President Pratibha Patil at Sangli in January this year, was at the centre of a controversy over a relegated position of writers due to the presidential protocol.

Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil who hails from Sangli had to sit in the audience to soothe the sentiments of writers over what they called "undue" interference from politicians at literary events.

However, unfazed over the protests, chairman of the Mahamandal Kautikrao Patil maintained that the Bay Area Association of Maharashtrians in the US, which has completed 25 years of its existence, had extended the invitation with all sincerity, and organising the meet outside India would in fact strengthen the "cause of Marathi".

Gyanapeeth award winner Marathi poet Vinda Karandikar, however, is not impressed by the idea.

"Let us have the next Sammelan on the South Pole where we can expect a greater number of audience to enjoy the event", he commented sarcastically.

A group of writers and publishers told the media that the Mahamandal's move would alienate the common reader for whom the Sammelan is held.