Kobad Ghandy book row: Three more members of Maharashtra language advisory panel quit

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Three more members of the Maharashtra government's Language Advisory Committee resigned on Thursday in protest against the decision to withdraw an award for a Marathi translation of former Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy's memoir.

Noted political analyst Suhas Palshikar, Dr Vivek Ghotale and Dr Ganesh Chandanshive announced separately that they were quitting the committee which advises the government on policies for promoting Marathi.

On Wednesday, writer and chairman of the committee Laxmikant Deshmukh had announced that he was stepping down in protest. He had also said that Ghandy's book does not sympathise with or supports Naxalites.

On Thursday, Meghna Bordikar, BJP MLA from Parbhani district, came out in support of the Eknath Shinde-led government's decision.

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She alleged that Ghandy's book "advocates terrorism and urban naxalism."

The nationalism and conscience of the writers who have tendered resignations in protest should be checked, she added.

Controversy erupted after the state government withdrew the Yashwantrao Chavan Literature Award 2021 to Anagha Lele for her translation of Ghandy's "Fractured Freedom: A Prison Memoir", six days after the announcement of the award on December 6.

Four members of the award selection committee (which has been scrapped now) -- Dr Pradnya Daya Pawar, Neeraja, Heramb Kulkarni and Vinod Shirsath -- resigned from the state Literature and Culture Board in protest against the way the award was withdrawn.

Marathi language minister Deepak Kesarkar, on the other hand, contended that the award was withdrawn because it would have meant a government "stamp of approval" for the Naxalite movement and its violence.

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