Vijayan writes to Mahasweta Devi, invites her to his house

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 4: CPI-M politburo member and the party's Kerala state secretary

yesterday requested Jnanpith award-winning Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi not to be misled by the "false propaganda" against Communists in the state.

In a reply to the open letter sent by Mahasweta Devi to him on Friday, Vijayan said many of the opinions raised in the letter were not based on facts, including the comment that he was living in a mansion inaccessible to party workers.

"My house is not a mansion nor is its doors closed to anyone. I have renovated the house with the party's permission. It is in my native village and not in an island off the sea. I invite you to the house so that you can see for yourself", he said in reply.

On CPI-M Idukki district secretary MM Mani's recent speech in which he used obscene words to criticise the writer for visiting slain RMP leader TP Chandrasekharan's house, Vijayan said the party had already made it clear that it could not endorse Mani's views.

In her letter, Mahasweta Devi had asked Vijayan on Mani's utterances as to what crime she did to hear such comments. "I see this crude and uncouth character spitting venom on me," she wrote.

She had mentioned in the letter that the people in Kerala had told her about Vijayan's mansion which was inaccessible to people. Mahasweta Devi had also appealed to writers, film-makers and cultural workers in Kerala to stand up and protest against Chandrasekharan's murder.

Vijayan said a section of the media and political enemies had launched an all-out attack on his party since the murder of the RMP leader. However, they were turning a blind eye when CPI-M workers were getting killed, he said in the letter.

He reminded the writer about the fate of West Bengal after the Left Front government was overthrown. Even newspapers were being banned in reading rooms and the Trinamool Congress had killed 65 CPI-M workers since they came to power, he charged.

Vijayan asked the writer to acknowledge the role of CPI-M in bringing about social change in Kerala and shed her "misunderstandings" about Communists.

PTI