The official release of the Malayalam version of former President APJ Abdul Kalam’s last book in Thrissur, Kerala on Saturday had to be abandoned due to protests against the publisher’s act of barring the book’s woman translator from taking part in it allegedly at the behest of a seer, who was to be the chief guest at the programme.
Publishing company Current Books, which hoped to sell 200,000 copies of ‘Kaalaatheetham’, Malayalam version of ‘Transcendence — My Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji’ co-authored by Kalam and Arun Tiwari, said there would be no formal release of the book in the context of the protests that erupted on Saturday at the Thrissur function.
Noisy protest erupted at the venue of the book’s release on Saturday against the publisher’s act of asking the book’s translator, Sreedevi S Kartha, to keep away from the function because of the aversion of chief guest Swami Brahmavihari Das, representative of Pramukh Swamiji of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, to having women’s presence on the dais.
Kaalaatheetham was to be released by Arun Tiwari and Jnanpith winner MT Vasudevan Nair in the presence of Swami Brahmavihari Das. However, the seer did not turn up for the event reportedly due to the protests. Though Vasudevan Nair had arrived in Thrissur, he stayed away from the programme.
Protestors belonging to various youth, students’ and women’s outfits also targeted social activist and novelist Sara Joseph who appeared on the scene for the book’s release in the absence of the seer. As the venue plunged into chaos, Arun Tiwari left the scene. Protestors blasted the publishing company for accepting the “anti-woman, fascist condition” put forward by the seer.
Translator Sreedevi Kartha said the publisher had invited her to the programme twice earlier but asked her to stay away from it later after the Swamiji proposed his condition. “It is weird to ask me, the translator, not to participate in the release of my book on account of laughable and strange restrictions,” Sreedevi said in her Facebook post.
“The organisers were instructed not to allow any woman to share the stage with the Swamiji, and nobody apart from the men from the Swamiji’s entourage could sit in the three front rows. This is fascism,” she said, adding that what shocked her more was the humiliation of entire women through this act than the personal humiliation she suffered.
The publishing company initially held that it was not necessary for the author or translator to participate in the release of a book and that there was nothing unusual in not inviting Sreedevi. However, KJ Johny, publication manager, Current Books, later said, “We apologise to Sreedevi Kartha if she has been hurt.”
Responding to the development, noted Malayalam poet Sugathakumari said, “Woman is mother. It would be better if those who were afraid of women withdrew themselves to their own caves of darkness. We should remember that the Hinduism is the only religion which has seen God in the form of woman.”
Describing the development as a blot on Kerala culture, State Cultural Affairs Minister KC Joseph asked the publishing company to apologise to the people. State CPI (M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan described the act of the publisher as anti-woman and said that protests were natural in such situations.