Politics & literature don’t mix in Ahmedabad

It would be apt to recall Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s response to Gujarati litterateurs when they requested him to take some position of responsibility in Gujarati Sahitya Parishad
(GSP). He had said, “I am a man of ‘limited politics’.”

The institution that has a history of more than 105 years has seen many ups and downs. It has been headed by some of the great and not so great litterateurs of Gujarati language. GSP has had Govardhanram Tripathi, Ramanlal Nilkanth, MK Gandhi, KM Munshi, Kaka Kalelkar, Umashankar Joshi, Narayanbhai Desai, Vinod Bhatt, Raghuvir Chaudhary and Niranjan Bhagat as its presidents.

Politics has always been an integral part of the organisation. But recently, bigotry and infighting have raised their ugly heads leading to the resignation of two office-bearers. General secretary, Rajendra Patel, and co-editor of monthly magazine, Mohan Parmar, have resigned from their posts. Neither of them were willing to talk to DNA about the reasons for their resignations.

Patel confirmed that he has resigned from the post but the trustees are yet to accept his resignation. Parmar said that his creativity was affected due to his ‘active engagements’ with GSP.

People close to the developments said vested interests within GSP are creating hurdles and are not ready to accept changes in the organisation. “Before people like Rajendra Patel, Harsh Brahmabhatt, Mohan Parmar and others joined the Parishad, there were the same old faces at Govardhan Bhavan.

The institute does not provide honorarium. All those who are purely interested in Gujarati language and literature use their social network to resolve financial bottlenecks,” said an insider of GSP requesting anonymity.

He added, “With activities like ‘Sahitya Yatra’ in 2008 and 2009 led by then president Narayanbhai Desai, ‘Matrubhasha Vandana Yatra’ by popular litterateur Gunavant Shah, ‘Vanche Gujarat’ campaign along with the state government and book fairs in association with Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, GSP has been recognised and accepted by the younger generation. Youngsters are now inclined to read Gujarati books and participate in GSP activities.”

Another noted writer of Gujarati literature said, “Patel, in his capacity as treasurer and later general secretary has driven these activities and given GSP a momentum. Now, GSP has its own website to connect with Gujaratis across the globe, it has sold thousands of books and brought out many publications. Its library has been catalogued online so people can search for and order books from their home.

Govardhan Bhavan has been renovated with the help of donations from Morari Bapu, Gunvant Shah, other individuals and corporate houses. The RV Pathak auditorium is air-conditioned and is utilised for literary and cultural activities that bring good revenue to GSP.”

He added, “Some activities of GSP like Dalit-Vimarsh – a section to discuss Dalit literature in Gujarati language and Granth-Goshti – to discuss Gujarati literature in general have picked up and many more people are visiting Govardhan Bhavan in recent years. This has sparked envy among former office-bearers.”

They have openly opposed activities of GSP like Dalit-Vimarsh and visits of schoolchildren from Juhapura to expose them to Gujarati literature and culture. They have written letters to the Parishad’s trustees to that effect. 

The aim of GSP is to foster Gujarati culture through language and literature. Said an insider, “Some people have questioned GSP’s move to include Dalits and people of other religions who are very much Gujarati. How can literature of a society be kept away from certain sections? GSP should be an institution of every Gujarati.

These activities of social inclusiveness may have cost Patel and Parmar dearly. As the envious section of GSP indirectly targeted them with satire published in GSP’s magazine, they might have resigned from the Parishad.”

GSP officer-bearers are restricting the debate to the narrow-mindedness that is still prevailing in this century-old literary and cultural organisation. GSP’s president Varsha Adalaja, a popular writer and daughter of Gujarati writer Gunvantray Acharya, spoke about the resignations.

“It has been decided by the trustees and the central committee that their resignations will not be accepted. There was a difference of opinion on some administrative issues which has been resolved.”

Raghuvir Chaudhary, one of the trustees of GSP, also said the resignations have not been accepted. He added that the people who wrote letters criticising the activities of the organisation have also been reprimanded.

 The question is should we keep ignoring the serious ills afflicting this century-old organisation? Or should we transform GSP’s rich literary history to something the the next generation will be proud of? This is a question for not just GSP patrons and office-bearers but for whole Gujarati society.