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Bhubaneswar, June 18: Rajya Sabha member and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy called for a “Lakshman Rekha” in literature at an event held in the city Saturday. “There is reasonable restriction on everything. All fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution, including the freedom to worship, have certain restrictions. Litterateurs, too, have to devise ways to implement such restraints. Literary personalities must discuss ways to deal with this. In a democracy there are only two ways: acceptance or restrictions,” he said.
Swamy was the keynote speaker at the two-day event — Kalinga Literary Festival — being organised by a city-based news portal. “Literature should reflect the strengths as well as weaknesses of society. If literature can thrive only in a society which has democracy, then I believe literature must also accept reasonable restrictions,” he said. “Indians value democracy and it has nothing to do with education. The elite believe democracy was not meant for uneducated people. . . . Surprisingly more uneducated people have voted for democracy,” the MP added.
According to Swamy, education had nothing to do with the love for democracy. He said people of UP and Bihar had voted for democracy as they felt it offered them at least a place to go and be considered.
“To preserve democracy we have to take steps such as development of literature through discussions,” he said.
Referring to the ‘award vapsi’ episode, Swamy said: “There was no occasion for doing so. The institutions of democracy were still functioning. Elections were still taking place and the ruling party at the Centre lost a few elections. In the process we have discovered that the articulation of cultural unity of India does produce events such as the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and the Assam elections.”
Swamy said people who belonged to the Left wing caused great harm to the country. “Anyone who spoke in nationalistic terms or about the glorious ancient traditions of the country were being shouted down for the past several decades,” he pointed out and, with reference to the racial distinction of Aryans and Dravidians, added: “There are glaring errors in history such as division of Indians as Aryans and Dravidians.”
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, another key speaker at the event, delved into literary development in India over the years. “Literature now also deals with certain social issues that had not been highlighted in the 50s or 60s. There has been a dramatic shift in the literary trend,” he said.
State industries and mass education minister Debi Prasad Mishra and MLA Priyadarshi Mishra, too, spoke on the occasion.
Several technical sessions were also held on the first day of the event. Eminent writers from across the country shared views on different topics at the event.
