Political, legal writings should be considered as literature: Karnataka Law Minister Patil

Mandya: Law Minister H K Patil said, the Kannada Sahitya Parishat (KSP) should recognise good writers among the politicians and also judges, who have given justice and have written good judgements.

He was speaking in a session on 'Sahityadalli Rajakeeya – Rajakeeyadalli Sahitya (Politics in literature and vice versa) on Rajamathe Kempananjammanni and Rajarshi Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar Stage, held as part of the three-day 87th Akhila Bharatha Kannada Sahitya Sammelana, organised by Kannada Sahitya Parishat (KSP) and Mandya District Administration, in Mandya, on Saturday.

Patil said, politics can be transformed through literature. “Those in the literary world should guide politicians. The discussions in the legislature can also be a part of literature. Let there be a beginning in this Sammelana,” he said.

Patil said, there has been an effort since long to keep away politicians from the literary world. “The writings of politicians are not considered as literature. This untouchability should end. Writers should point out the mistakes of politicians. Lakesh used to do it. Besides, journalists and media should constructively criticise the politicians. Due to the lack of such critics, the quality of politics is deteriorating,” he said.

Former Chairman of the Legislative Council B L Shankar said, there was equality and harmony in the writings of Kuvempu. “The Belagavi Congress session, chaired by M K Gandhi in 1924, gave a direction to the unification of Karnataka. Gandhi’s leadership and B R Ambedkar’s scholarship guided us to the golden era of movements. The title of the session is wrong as the verb should have been ‘Rajakaranadalli Sahitya’ instead of Rajakeeyadalli…”, he said.

Political analyst Ravindra Reshme said, politics is a blood-less war and we are fortunate to have it in a democracy.