Netas not worth our literature: URA

The first edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF) kicked off on Friday with a message of upholding freedom of  speech at a time when Twitter and Facebook posts were leading to legal action and arrests.

Jnanpith awardee U R Ananthamurthy highlighted this point in his inaugural address, stressing that a writer is entitled to  freedom of speech, at least in metaphor, if not journalistically.

“We have spoken against the arrests of youths over their Facebook posts. Still, they had to do their time in jail. Even the Mangalore  moral-policing victims were detained for filing a complaint. Rulers (politicians) of this country are not worth the literature this country  has produced,” he said.

The litterateur added that “some politicians of yesteryear did celebrate literature even in non-constitutional languages” but lamented  that present-day politicians do not share this virtue.

Another Jnanpith awardee, Chandrashekhar Kambar, said regional literature is now as good as English literature, in that it is in a position to face up to the literary works in English. “If this festival had been held 25 years ago, then regional languages would have had to  brace up. However, our own languages have made great literary progress. We do not have to go out (abroad) to comment on or critique our own works. Such festivals bring us together,” Kambar said.

Poet K S Nissar Ahmed said Kannada needs to adapt to the environment of literary festivals “considering the rich and ancient history the language possesses”.