Kerala writer withdraws novel after fundamentalist threats'

Thiruvananthapuram: Another novel has fallen victim to fundamentalist wrath. Writer S. Hareesh has withdrawn his novel ‘Meesha,’ being serialised in Mathrubhumi weekly, following threats by radical elements allegedly for hurting the sentiments of believers of Hindu religion.

Hareesh, winner of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award for short story for his anthology Adam last year, said he could no longer hold on against the threats raised on the social media and over phone against him and his family members.

It may be recalled that renowned Tamil writer Perumal Murugan had stopped writing in 2015 after alleged Hindu-groups protested against his novel Madhorubhagan.

Mathrubhumi weekly editor Kamal Ram Sajeev confirmed that the weekly had received a letter from Hareesh asking it not to publish the remaining parts of the novel. “Hareesh withdraws his novel Meesa, literature is being mob- lynched, darkest day in Kerala’s cultural history, lightless days to follow,” Sajeev tweeted.

Sajeev told this newspaper that the development showed where society has been heading to. In the past, M.T. Vasudevan Nair’s film ‘Nirmalyam’ or O.V. Vijayan’s book Khashakinte Ithihasam had portions which can be termed as hurting the religious sentiments by today’s standards. However, none had turned hostile to the writers, he said.

Hareesh had told the this newspaper a few days ago that most of the people who abused him on the Facebook had fake IDs. “They even abused my wife and mother,” said  Hareesh.

Hareesh has switched off his phone after withdrawing the novel.

“I am too weak to take on the people who rule the country. I worked on the novel for five long years. I will publish the novel as a book when I feel that the people are mature enough for it,” Hareesh told a television channel.

Writer S. Saradakutty said on the Facebook, “a language which forces a writer to flee is poor. Its culture is obscene. I am ashamed.”

What offended the fundamentalists  about the book is a conversation by a character, a pervert, with his friend, in which he ridicules young women who dress up in their best attire while visiting temples.

They are “unconsciously declaring that they are willing for an intimate relationship,” he says. Priests are “masters in this matter,” he adds.

However, it was pointed out that the statement was not an opinion of Hareesh but of a character who is a pervert.

Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor, who himself is in the middle of a controversy over his comments on ‘Hindu Pakistan, ‘ has tweeted in support of Hareesh. “Those who do not believe my warnings about the emergence of a Hindutva Taliban might learn from what has just happened to Malayalam writer Hareesh and even more chilling, the threat to chop off his hands, Taliban-style,” he said.