The two-day 12th May Sahitya Mela in Hubballi concluded with a strong message to continue the struggle against fascist forces and for Dalits, minorities, women, labourers, and all other downtrodden communities to remain united.
Protest March Demanding Cancellation of SIR
Veteran novelist Kum Veerabhadrapp flagged off a protest march demanding the cancellation of the Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls (SIR), which proceeded from Chennamma Circle to RN Shetty Kalyana Mantap. Writer Sabita Bannadi criticized the government, stating that instead of removing deceased persons from the voter list, they have removed the names of living people. She termed this as genocide, adding that making people appear dead while they are alive is what SIR does.
Historian Ashok Shettar remarked that a constitutional assault has begun in India, with SIR excluding crores of people. Scholar Ramjan Dargah, poet Moodnakudu Chinnaswamy, educationist Sripad Bhat, and others participated in the protest march.
Poetry Recital and Keynote Address
Delivering the keynote in a poetry recital, Urdu poet Nishat Jameela from Hyderabad emphasized that poets must continue writing by constantly questioning themselves about why they write, and that truth must be revealed through imagination. Sharing her experience of reading works by renowned poets, she explained that imagination reveals truth and is not merely fantasy but a part of reality.
Jameela also shared her experience of starting an organization and working closely with women, witnessing communal conflicts and the oppression of women in Hyderabad, and fighting against them. She said she experiences the pain of women and expresses it through qawwalis, with many women now voicing their family and social struggles through this medium.
Recalling the resistance she faced in 1997 when she wrote a poem opposing the burqa, she noted that while it is difficult to fully represent pain one has not experienced, poetry and cultural translation can serve as tools to express the pain of the voiceless.
Session Highlights
Presiding over the session, KY Narayanaswamy observed that contemporary poetry has depth and subtlety in content and experience but lacks the language of present times, which is a major obstacle to the continuity of poetic tradition. Poets including Telugu poet Mercy Margaret from Hyderabad recited their poems.
Activist Mavalli Shankar stated that the Congress is unable to effectively counter the BJP's strategy known as SIR. He warned that the previous manoeuvres implemented through SIR are dangerous, and the common people need to understand this. He also mentioned the rebellion literary organization that emerged in the 1970s to oppose the KASAPA stance and how the aspirations of the movement have been carried forward by the literary festival for the past 12 years.
CPI state secretary K Prakash remarked that the Election Commission claims SIR has been conducted since 2002 as a routine process. He noted that despite requests made months ago to clarify the documents requested from voters in 2002, there has been no response. The commission continuously undertakes comprehensive voter list revisions and special voter list revisions under the Representation of the People Act, but this is not SIR. He questioned whether SIR is constitutionally authorized and emphasized that the intention behind preparing an entirely new voter list through a different SIR process must be understood in the context of politics. Among the 11 documents requested by the commission, it is challenging for the poor and marginalized to provide them. He suggested that the upcoming elections in 16 states seem to be a ploy to exclude around 100 million voters through SIR. He accused the government, which does not accept the Constitution, the republic, secularism, and the fundamental principles of the Constitution, of attempting to implement this.
Noor Sridhar spoke about the consequences of SIR in Bihar and West Bengal, stressing that similar repercussions should not occur in other states. He urged the people of Karnataka to be vigilant and raise awareness through anti-SIR protests.
