Two Dalit writers forced out of literary meet

MUMBAI: Two Dalit writers were threatened and asked to leave a literary meet in Satara on Saturday for comments that irked some people of the Maratha community.

Pragya Pawar and Raosaheb Kasbe were at Patan, Satara, for the two-day ‘Vibhagya Sahitya Sammelan’ when the alleged incident occurred. Pawar told ET that they left town the same evening after a mob surrounded the guest house where they were staying and demanded that they should tender an apology for their remarks and leave. “We learnt that the mob was angry with what I and Kasbe had said in the speech. I had touched on the subject of intolerance and then referred to how the Maratha community, which was taking out ‘morchas’ against the Kopardi rape (incident), has been silent when similar atrocities are made against Dalit women,” said Pawar, daughter of Dalit writer and thinker Daya Pawar. “I had criticised this double standards.”

According to Pragya, Kasbe had spoken of how sections of the Maratha and the Brahmin communities were opposed to the coronation of Maratha warrior Shivaji. “What Kasbe said is a historical fact and has been noted by many historians, due to this opposition Shivaji had to get a pundit from Kashi Gaga Bhatt to perform his coronation,” said Pragya.

Pawar said that while their speeches appeared to be well received by the audience, trouble arose later in the evening when a mob surrounded the hostel in which they were staying. “There were 100 to 150 people outside and 30 people had entered the hostel, and after threatening Kasbe, forced him to give an apology. The organisers prevented the mob from coming upstairs where I was staying,” said Pawar. She said the two were then told to leave.

According to Pawar, Shiv Sena legislator Sambhuraj Desai has filed a complaint against the two with the local police, terming their speeches as “insulting’ to national personalities.