The Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad sought and got police protection for a felicitation programme organised for Fr Francis D’Britto, an author and environment activist, who was chosen as the president of the 93rd Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (literary meet) on Monday.
The public felicitation programme will be held on September 26 (Thursday) at the Sahitya Parishad Pune office on Tilak road at 6pm. Right wing organisations have opposed the selection of Fr D’Britto as the president and are demanding that the sammelan recall this appointment.
The three-day sammelan will begin on January 10, 2020, at Osmanabad.
“Since we announced the selection of Fr D’Britto as the president of this year’s Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, I have received 250 calls opposing this decision and people have registered their protest. Initially people registered their opposition as they have the right to freedom of speech and expression, but the issue took an ugly turn once I started received threatening and abusive calls,” said Milind Joshi, working president, Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad .
“We are felicitating Father Debrito here at the Parishads office and to avoid any untoward incident during the event, as a precaution, we have written a letter to the Pune police seeking protection, said Joshi.
{{/usCountry}}“We are felicitating Father Debrito here at the Parishads office and to avoid any untoward incident during the event, as a precaution, we have written a letter to the Pune police seeking protection, said Joshi.
{{/usCountry}}“Fr D’Britto’s work is beyond religion and for the entire society, therefore, he was unanimously selected by the Sahitya Parishad,” added Joshi.
Anand Dave, president, Akhil Bharthiya Brahman Mahasangh, said, “A person’s history and records need to be checked, while appointing him/her as the president of the sammelan. His contribution towards Marathi literature and his writings were checked by our committee. His books are related to Christianity and he is trying to spread superstitions with the help of them. His work targets the Hindu religion and therefore, we are opposing his appointment as the president. We demand that state government interfere in this matter and remove him from this post.”
The 77-year-old Christian priest, who hails from Vasai, a distant suburb of Mumbai, has authored several Marathi books.
His book ‘Nava Karar’, a translation of the New Testament in contemporary context, was honoured with the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award.