Pune, (The Hindu): At Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, Sabnis slams Sanathan Sanstha, Fadnavis takes a dig at him

Days after his public apology for his controversial remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, noted litterateur Shripal Sabnis on Saturday launched a broadside at the right-wing fringe elements.

Dr Sabnis was delivering the inaugural lecture at the 89th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, Maharashtra’s biggest literary event that commenced in Pimpri-Chinchwad on Friday.

The second day of the event also saw Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hurling veiled barbs at Dr Sabnis.

Dr Sabnis, who is president of the literary meet, targeted the fringe right-wing Sanatan Sanstha for stifling intellectual dissent in general and for the murders of rationalist-thinkers Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi in particular.

‘Harmful propaganda’

“The Sanstha’s pernicious activities and division of Maharashtra’s social fabric on caste lines has caused each saint to be identified by a particular caste. For instance, the Sanstha has attempted to spread such harmful propaganda like ‘Jnaneshwar was the saint of the Brahmins’, and ‘Tukaram belonged to the Marathas’... this is alarming propaganda,” alleged Dr Sabnis, reading out from a 135-page speech wherein he touched upon the surging intolerance and communalism in the country.

The author himself was embroiled in a raging controversy after dubbing Mr Modi “a man forever smeared with the taint of the 2002 Gujarat riots”, whom he would not endorse. Dr Sabnis’ remarks threatened the smooth conduct of the Sammelan, with both the BJP and the Sanatan Sanstha demanding that he recant his statement.

Dr Sabnis also alleged that he received a death threat from the Sanstha’s top lawyer. Earlier this week, he was forced to retract his remarks after it became apparent that BJP activists could disrupt the event.

Both Mr Pawar and Mr Fadnavis, in their respective speeches, said literary personalities should not “indulge in politics”. “While it is good news that someone of Dr Sabnis’ capabilities is heading this meet, there needs to be a rethink on the process of election of the Sammelan president,” remarked the NCP strongman, in a rebuke to Dr Sabnis.

The four-day literary meet got off to a grand start with a spellbinding display of literary pageantry manifested as a “granth dindi” (symbolic procession of books) attracting huge crowds on the HA grounds in Pimpri on Friday. More than 400 stalls have been set up.

At Marathi sammelan, Pawar & Fadnavis tells litterateurs to keep off politics

Photo credit: The Hindu