THE HINDU 3.11.2010

 “Recent issues perturbing”

  

forthright: Nayantara Sahgal, right, writer and historian, addressing a meeting in the city on Thursday. Manohar Devadoss, writer and artist, is seen. — Photo: G. Moorthy

Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression should always be guaranteed and it was not a good sign of a functioning democracy to put a writer behind bars for expressing his/her views and the events that were unfolding in the recent past on freedom of expression were perturbing said, Nayantara Sahgal, writer and historian.

Addressing the silver jubilee of Study Centre for Indian Literature in English and Translation (SCILET) at American College here on Thursday, Ms.Sahgal said that incidents such as outcry against paintings of M.F. Hussain, vandalization of renowned Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute and banning the film Parzania by the Gujarat government were not healthy signs for a democracy. She also narrated an incident in which elected representatives of the Parliament were justifying these bans.

On Kashmir issue, former Prime Minister Nehru's stance and Arundhati Roy's reference to Nehru's observations, she said, “Nehru promised a plebiscite only when the aggression is vacated and this fact was never highlighted by anyone who talks about the Kashmir issue.”

Recalling her family's connection with Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi, she said that “it was the momentous thing to happen to our family for three generations.” She narrated an incident on how she felt reluctant as a five-year-old to meet Gandhi when her mother took her to Anand Bhavan in Allahabad and asked her to hand over a bouquet. When Gandhi asked why she was unwilling to give the bouquet, Ms.Sahgal unwittingly said that he was ugly. A laughing Gandhi immediately told her mother that she would always speak truth.

Another incident that she recalled was the news of Gandhi's death. The writer said that she had never seen her uncle (Nehru) react like this when he was on his knees looking disturbed.

“Our heroes then were no movie stars or billionaire and millionaire celebrities but real leaders who had a sense of what the nation and its people are. But it is a sad situation that we do not have leaders to look up to, those who could resolve issues such as corruption which largely affects the nation.”

O Congress and its dynasty politics, she said. “Right from the days of Indira Gandhi, I have been opposing dynasty politics and it is sad that it is flourishing in many of the States and one has to understand that it took the Congress seven long years after Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination to convince Sonia Gandhi to enter politics and she refused the offer to hold the Prime Minister's post.”