Jaipur: The spirit of democracy won hands down at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2013 that logged nearly 200,000 footfalls up from 120,000 in 2012.
More people cutting through social divides mingled in a spirit of egalitarian camaraderie in their response to the intellectual rapid-fire as custodians of knowledge from the elite hubs worldwide reached out to connect to the “aam admi” in the Pink City.
The sounds of revelry gave away to silence at sundown on the bustling lawns of the Diggi Palace in the heart of the city yesterday when the curtains came down on the five-day Festival with an animated debate, ‘The House Proposes that Capitalism Has Lost Its Way’. The enthusiastic House rooted for a progressive brand of inclusive capitalism — paving the way for yet another year of pure fun.
The din raised over the last four days by 290 intellectuals on a wide spread to explore the new waves in home grown and international literature, Buddhism in literature, core semantics, art, social issues and feminism fanned its share of duels.
A spat between Bollywood lyricist and MP Javed Akhtar and noted Dalit writer Kancha Ilaiah over religion, outrage over leading social commentator Ashis Nandy’s remarks about corruption in Dalit ranks and media misquote of Minister of State for HRD Shashi Tharoor’s address followed by a public apology gave the gala grist to live up its reputation as a platform of free but often prickly expression that the organisers strive to uphold.
It was almost a carryover of the controversy stoked by the cancellation of writer Salman Rushdie’s participation at the festival after Muslim hardliners raised the banner of revolt against his Satanic Verses.
The Muslim and Dalit groups invited Rushdie and Nandy for debates on religion and corruption respectively in open forums on the last day of the festival. “This festival has showcased as much possible Dalit literature in the last six years. We brought 35 Dalit poets in one of the editions,” festival co-director William Dalrymple told the media. The Delhi gang-rape occupied forestage as the retinue of more than 40 women writers, culture protagonists and performers raked up the slide in the country’s law and order, justice delivery system and gender injustice. They were joined by a handful of men of international repute — who expressed solidarity with the gender insecurity inherent on the Indian socio-cultural canvas. “Women’s lives are dispensable,” novelist Shobhaa De said.
IANS
