New Delhi: An event to honour International Booker Prize winner Geetanjali Shree in Agra Saturday was cancelled following a controversy over the content of her award-winning novel Ret Samadhi (translated into English as Tomb of Sand) and a complaint filed against her with the Hathras Police.
The complaint was registered by one Sandeep Kumar Pathak, a resident of Sadabad town in Hathras, who alleged that the book Ret Samadhi contains objectionable depictions of deities Shiva and Parvati, which “hurt the sentiments of Hindus”.
He tweeted about his written complaint Saturday morning and tagged the accounts of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and several senior Uttar Pradesh police officials, seeking an FIR to be registered against the author.
आदरणीय @myogioffice @myogiadityanath योगी जी से एक प्रश्न है – क्या हर शिव मंदिर में योगी और योनि है ?? अगर नहीं तो फिर @hathraspolice इस अपमान जनक अभद्र अश्लील उपन्यास पर तहरीर दिए जाने के 10 दिन बाद भी FIR क्यों नहीं कर रही? @adgzoneagra @dm_hathras @rangealigarh @dgpup @ndtv pic.twitter.com/Rmy0oC1ZA8
— Sandeep Pathak (@sandeeppathak_1) July 30, 2022
The event, organised by Agra-based cultural organisations ‘Rangleela’ and ‘Agra Theatre Club’, was scheduled to be held at the Clarks Shiraz Hotel in Agra. Shree, who was born in UP’s Mainpuri district when her father served as an IAS officer in the Agra division, did her schooling in different districts of the state.
‘Author receiving threats’
The organisers of the event, Anil Shukla of Rangleela and Harvijay Bahia of the Agra Theatre Club, issued a joint statement expressing their sadness at the event being called off.
“There was a lot of enthusiasm for the event…it is really sad that the event had to be called off in such a manner,” the statement read.
“The Hathras police reportedly stated before local media that required action would be taken after studying the content of the book,” Shukla said in the press statement.
Rambharat Upadhyay, a spokesperson of Rangleela, however, told ThePrint, that Shree did not want to attend the event after “receiving threats” following a felicitation function organised by the teachers’ union at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi earlier this week.
“A big reason for the cancellation of the event is….about three days ago Gitanjali ma’am went to JNU, and a huge section of the university opposed her presence, and according to inside news she has been receiving threats, and the event wasn’t cancelled from our side, she cancelled it from her side due to these reasons, she wants to take a break from events because there is a threat to her,” Upadhyay said.
According to the statement released by the organisers, Shree had on Wednesday told them that some anti-social elements tried to disrupt the felicitation event held in JNU.
“We were felicitating her at this event, but the government should be the one to do it…she has made the nation proud. She is from UP, was born and brought up here and studied here. The UP government as well as the Indian government must greet and encourage such people,” Upadhyay added.
‘Novel dragged into political controversy’
The organisers’ statement also noted that Shree defends the contents of her book that is based on Indian mythology. The author, according to the statement, has said that there was no intention to insult anybody’s sentiments.
“My novel is forcefully being dragged into a political controversy… The references made in the novel are an integral part of Indian mythology. Those who have objections to these descriptions, should challenge the Hindu mythological texts in the court,” the author reportedly told the organisers, according to their statement.
Ret Samadhi, translated into English by Daisy Rockwell, won the International Booker Prize 2022 in May. It is the first Hindi novel, and the first from India and South Asia, to win the award.
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