Controversy hit the organisers of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa over their decision to not print the translation of a Konkani poem on caste discrimination written by late Goan writer and former BJP MLA from St Andre Vishnu Surya Wagh.
The Sunday edition of the IFFI daily, The Peacock, only featured a two-page illustration of Wagh by anti-caste artist Siddhesh Gautam. The artist said that he was asked not to carry the translation of a selected poem of Wagh's alongside the artwork.
“I was asked to not publish a poem by Vishnu Surya Wagh for today’s issue. Wagh’s poem ‘Secular’ (is one that) I carefully chose because it expresses so many incidents of caste discrimination by many on a daily basis in both urban and rural areas. I myself have gone through something similar many times in my life, not just as an unknown student, but also as a well-known artist," Wagh wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday.
Gautam then shared the English translation of the poem and his illustration as an Instagram post saying that he had "nothing to lose".
View this post on InstagramPhD scholar Kaustubh Naik wrote on his Instagram story that Peacock had asked him to translate a poem from his uncle Vishnu Surya Wagh's collection 'Sudirsukta', and added that it was to appear alongside a double-page illustration spread by artist Siddhesh Gautam in the daily's 26th November issue. He stated that he got to know only late in the night that Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) officials did not give the go-ahead for the publication of the issue as they wanted Wagh's poem to be removed first.
"The censure on Vishnu Wagh's poetry continues even after his death. This time at IFFI Goa," Naik wrote on Instagram Stories.
Wagh's nephew told Indian Express that it was "unfortunate that this act of censorship occurred on the eve of Constitution day.”
“...If you read the collection ('Sudirsukta'), you realise that Wagh recorded histories of Goa’s Bahujan Samaj through his poems. The use of language and its imagery and themes are rather revolutionary in Goa’s literary scene,” Naik told IE.
Naik added that "the poems take an anti-establishment stance", and that perhaps could be the reason for the censorship.
Ankita Mishra, CEO of the ESG, the nodal agency that organises IFFI on behalf of the Goa government, told IE that the decision to not have the poem of Wagh's was an editorial call "purely taken for creative reasons".
Eminent and outspoken anti-caste voice
Vishnu Surya Wagh, popular in Konkani and Marathi literary circles, was a writer, poet, playwright, cartoonist, journalist, editor, orator, and politician. He belonged to Goa’s largest Hindu community, the Bhandaris, who are categorised as an Other Backward Caste (OBC), and was a fierce critic of right-wing politics and caste-based oppression.
In August 2017, Wagh and his collection 'Sudirsukta - Hymns of a Shudra', became the subject of a volatile controversy, after a jury member of the Goa Konkani Academy (GKA) revealed that the book was selected as a winner in the poetry category for their annual awards.
The book had been published in 2013, but that month, "after a campaign on social media has seen some of its verses being lifted and shared “out of context”", as reported by IE, Goa’s dominant castes, especially Gaud Saraswat Brahmin groups, were angered, stoking a huge row.
On September 4 that year, a women’s group had filed a police complaint against Wagh and the publisher of 'Sudhirsukta', alleging that the book contained obscene and derogatory comments about women.
The then BJP government in Goa had cancelled all 32 undeclared literature and culture awards, including the one for Wagh.
Wagh in his political career had been with the Shiv Sena, the United Goans Democratic Party, and had also been a strong Congress loyalist for many years.
In 2014, then Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar sacked Wagh from his posts as Chairman of Kala Academy, Panaji, and Vice-Chairman of the Entertainment Society of Goa, allegedly as he was openly critical about the BJP leadership. He was however reinstated a year later.
Wagh who was also a former deputy speaker of the Goa Assembly died on February 8, 2019, in South Africa following a prolonged illness. He was 53.
