JOIN US“Poet Rabindranath Tagore has said that we should not conceal the truth in order to stop someone from being hurt. Going by the same words, I have delivered my presidential address. I have spoken what I felt is true,” said the 80th Akhila Bharatha Kannada Sahitya Sammelana President Na D’Souza.
Delivering closing remarks at the valedictory of the three day Sahitya Sammelana at Madikeri on Thursday, the litterateur nowhere mentioned that his presidential address had hurt the sentiments of a few people. Standing by his words spoke in the inaugural programme, he reiterated that his statements were firm and true. “I am of the strong opinion that literary convention should not be mechanical. It should be platform to discuss and deliberate upon the problems of the region. Therefore, I intentionally raised a few issues. The issues that I raised were given wide publicity in the media and in turn it lead the people to seriously think about those issues,” he said.
Further, he went on to say that though a few people did not receive his speech with good spirit, majority of them did appreciate the issues he raised. “If the words that I spoke were true, people will indeed seriously ponder over it. Common man expects the writers and litterateurs to speak such harsh truth. It is, in fact, the responsibility of the litterateurs too. But, these days litterateurs have stopped speaking such aspects in open platforms,” the litterateur stated.
Na D’Souza urged the litterateurs to make their stand clear on language, communal issues and culture. This is what the society expects from litterateurs.
Litterateurs do not speak with the desire for getting the post of Academy president or for any award, he said. Audience applauded loudly as words came straight from the President’s mouth. In a piece of advise to litterateurs, he said the litterateurs should stand for the suppressed class like daily wage labourer, agriculturists and victims of displacement.
It could be recalled that Na D’Souza had made comments about environment protection and Kasturirangan report on the day of the inauguration. Local MLAs K G Bopaiah and Appachu Ranjan had raised objection to his statements and had demanded him to apologise.
As he concluded his speech, he demanded the government to construct a memorial in Madikeri to pay respects to Rev Kittel and Herman Moegling for their contribution to Kannada literature.