Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday denied his government’s role in the case that was filed against a former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA for writing a book with allegedly offensive content, IANS reported. Parrikar said some people were trying to “give it [the matter] a different colour”.
“As far as the FIR [is concerned] it has nothing to do with government, though some media outlets at the national level tried to hint that the government has done something. I believe in freedom of expression, one can write anything, but everything is subject to decisions by apex court and law.”
The Goa Police had on Tuesday filed an FIR against former BJP MLA Vishnu Surya Wagh and publisher Hema Naik for use of “vulgar” language in his compilation of Konkani poems. They were charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.
Wagh’s Sudhirsukt, which was published in 2013, sparked fresh outrage among Goa’s elite castes after his supporters tried to get the book selected for the annual poetry award by the government-funded Goa Konkani Academy.
The Parrikar government has also been under fire for scrapping some state awards, including one for which Sudhirsukt was shortlisted. Parrikar said this was done because of conflict of interest issues and not because of the controversy surrounding the anthology.
Wagh, a poet, dramatist, former newspaper editor and cartoonist, is considered the foremost political and cultural orator and ideologue of Goa’s largest Hindu community, the Bhandaris, who are categorised under Other Backward Castes.
Apart from the language, the overt anti-Brahminism of Wagh’s poetry is another bone of contention with his critics.
Women’s rights activist Auda Viegas had lodged the complaint against Wagh on September 4, alleging that the book contained obscene and derogatory comments about women. “Not only does it portray women in bad taste, the book also speaks about castes, which is wrong,” she told PTI.
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