Playwright Girish Karnad has found support for his remarks on Nobel laureate VS Naipaul's ‘anti-Muslim’ writings from the Progressive Writers’ Association, the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) and the Janwadi Lekhak Sangh.
The associations have supported Karnad’s criticism of the Lifetime Achievement Award conferred to Naipaul at the recent Tata Literature Live festival held in the city.
“It (the award) is a joke. Naipaul has bypassed reality in his writings,” said M K Raina, founding trustee, SAHMAT. “Karnad’s statement was apt and it was courageous of him to say it on the very forum where Naipaul was awarded,” he said.
During the literature festival last week, Karnad had criticised what he called Naipaul’s anti-Muslim views and his one-sided take on history.
SAHMAT issued a statement on Monday expressing solidarity with Karnad and also questioned the festival organisers’ stand on Indian Muslims in the light of conferring the award.