A frail old woman called Durga Bhagwat did it first against the Emergency. Two decades later, an equally frail old man, Vasant Bapat, has taken over where she left off. The lone voice of dissent, piping up from unexpected quarters, is yet again building up into a gradual crescendo. This time it's Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray whose authority is under challenge.
Bapat, a litterateur of some renown and head of the 72nd Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, seemed to have started a fire that was waiting to blaze when he spoke up against the state's proprietorial attitude towards writers last fortnight. No one knows how it will end, but for now they're calling it the Marathi intelligentsia's revolt against the 'autocratic' Sena.
It was some fairly oblique remarks against the 'dictatorship' of persons and parties, made by Bapat during his presidential address at the meet, that first got the Sena chief riled. In Thackeray's lexicon, state largesse is synonymous with the self-abrogation of the right to freedom of expression. 'Criticism should come without a price tag for the government,' he thundered. The sum in question was Rs 25 lakh, doled out by the state government as sponsorship for the meet.
'Forget 25 lakh, I won't sell my soul for even 25 crore,' shot back Bapat. 'And since when has Thackeray begun to give money to anyone? I thought he only took money from everybody else!' From a writer who'd retained his mild manner through the Bombay riots, and all subsequent excesses by the Sena, this was plainspeaking indeed.
Soon, a groundswell of support built up. A parallel meet, called the Vidrohi Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, was held by renegade literati in the slums of Dharavi to expose the opulence of the official meet at Shivaji Park. As the breach widened, more attenders of the official meet, feeling their self-respect was at stake, ventured to speak up.
All this had a galvanising effect. Amid the blitz of nasty recriminations, a host of writers resigned from state-funded cultural and literary committees in a show of solidarity to Bapat. And in a day the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal also managed to raise Rs 4.5 lakh from the public.
'Time will tell whether this means freedom, or will remain an isolated protest,' says Sharad Kale, ex-bureaucrat. 'But it's a laudable beginning for those who believe in a civil society and its pluralism.'
To be sure, a few sceptics remain. Nikhil Wagle, editor of the anti-Thackeray Mahanagar and key spirit behind the Vidrohi Sammelan, pointed out that the Mahamandal was not 'a representative body' of Marathi writers. 'It's upper middle class, Brahminical and fossilised. Why should we make it easy for a bunch of old men with no clarity of thought, who are reacting now only because Thackeray has kicked them in the butt?' Wagle asked.
Figures like Hemu Adhikari and Satish Kasekar joined in, criticising the Mahamandal for collecting funds without setting up a trust. It should first set some legal norms, 'otherwise it will be just another scam', Wagle told Outlook. Mahamandal chief Vasundhara Pende-Naik was unfazed: 'In a democracy there will be dissenters, but majority will prevails.' A lesson for Thackeray. For, the man-and not necessarily the government-is the real target. Says poet Mangesh Padgaonkar: 'The problem was created by his language and discourtesy to writers. How can he call us shameless? He gave us no money, the government did.'
The concept of parallel sammelans was born 150 years ago when social reformer Jyotiba Phule rebelled against Brahminical domination in the arts. More recently, in '81 Bhagwat held a similar meet to protest against Congress chief minister A.R. Antulay, who had dropped three books from the recommended list for state awards. The awards were not restored, but a chastened Antulay backed down.
Thackeray, fresh from a retreat over Indo-Pak cricket and Deepa Mehta's Fire, refuses to back down. Or distinguish between his money and the state's. Says writer Prakash Akolkar: 'The money was not extortion money. It was taxpayer's money. Literary activities need government largesse.'
Money, finally, is the bone of contention. Hurt by Bapat's comments that they don't not take orders from 'laxmipatis', Thackeray will take nothing short of an abject surrender. But for now, Bapat intends to 'stand by every word I said.'
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