By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: Saswat Panigrahi, an Odia rightwing , Delhi-NCR based Journalist, Columnist, Researcher and Cultural observer has written to President, Kendra Sahitya Akademi – via e-mail – requesting him to withdraw Akademi award of Poet Dr Rajendra Kishore Panda. He has also sent a similar letter to Secretary, Central Sahitya Akademi.
In his letter addressed to Chandrashekhara Kambara, President, Sahitya Akademi, Panigrahi drew his attention that Odia poet Dr Rajendra Kishore Panda, a Central Sahitya Akademi awardee, has hurt the sentiments of crores of Hindus and culture lovers across the country by writing and publishing vile poem against Mother Goddess Sita, the central female character of the Hindu epic ‘Ramayana’.
In a Facebook post, in Odia, on April 27, Dr Panda wrote on Ma Sita, “Ashoka Vana re tame icchipara Ravana ra balatkara, agini parikshya re ene hoipara anayasha re uttirna. Tame kahari nuhan.” (In Ashok Vana, you were desirous of being raped by Ravana, and yet you cleared the Agni Pariksha easily with your chastity intact. Worthy, you are not of anyone’s trust.)
As the poem invited massive backlash, Panda told an Odia news channel, in an interview, that it was “just a metaphoric use”. “I was not referring to Sita of ‘Ramayana’,” he had said even as he had clearly mentioned Ashoka Vana, Ravana and Agni Pariksha in his Facebook poem. (Please find the link of Rajendra Panda’s interview to ‘Kanak News’:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1sUQBN79mQ)
Further, Dr Panda had instigated a few Odia poets, belonging to the anti-culture lobby, to follow suit. They hurled series of abuses at Ma Sita and Lord Ram in their poems, which they posted in social media platforms. That created a very disturbing trend which Odia literature has never witnessed, he said.
Rajendra Panda’s Facebook post, which has hurt the sentiments of crores of Hindus, is a serious criminal offence under Section 295 (a) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and also under Section 76 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. As many as 10 criminal cases are pending against him. The law, however, is yet to catch up with Dr Panda as he continues to go scot free by using his “highly influential status” of a Central Sahitya Akademi awardee and former senior bureaucrat to his rescue, he said.
“I must emphasize that literature is closely linked to culture and a piece of literature can’t be an instrument against the culture. Dr Panda has misused his poetic freedom by his vile and poisonous statement on Ma Sita. Now, he is hiding behind the babble of “metaphor”. Such a statement, which has severely hurt the sentiments of crores Hindus and culture lovers across the country, has invited a cultural crisis of sorts. Such a deplorable act of Dr Panda can be termed as cultural terrorism,” Panigrahi wrote.
“It could be noted that Rajendra Kishore Panda was the recipient of Kendra Sahitya Akademi award – India’s highest literary honour – for his poetry collection ‘Saila Kalpa’ in the year 1985.
If Dr Panda continues to identify himself as a Central Sahitya Akademi awardee, it will certainly affect the image of the central institution for literary dialogue, publication and promotion.Therefore, I would like to request the Sahitya Akademi to withdraw the coveted award from Rajendra Kishore Panda. I further request the Akademi to disassociate itself from Dr Panda in all its future activities,” the Scribe added.
