'Critics selective in analysing works of Dalit writers'

 Writer Moodnakudu Chinnaswamy on Tuesday lamented that critics have been selective in analysing the works of Dalit writers.

They have been focusing on two writers, ignoring works of other equally profound Dalit writers, he said.

Chinnaswamy was speaking at the inauguration of the three-day workshop on ‘Dalita Kavya Meemamse’ organised jointly by Karnataka Sahitya Academy, Kannada and Culture Department and Sandesha Foundation for Culture and Education. He didn’t take the names of two writers but clarified that he has a cordial relationship with them. He went on to add that ‘even the new age critics are following the same path, continuing to analyse the works of only those two writers’.

Saying that his tryst with literature as a poet is three decades old, Chinnaswamy said, “Many have appreciated my works, yet the works of myself and other writers like late D R Nagaraj and Mogalli Ganesh still remain out of the domain for critics – most of them being non-Dalits belonging to majoritarian communities. The only reason that it is aimed at fulminating either a Gowda or a Kulkarni (from majoritarian communities). Hence the critics tread a safe path.”

Referring to the workshop organised under special cell plan of the government, Chinnaswamy termed it as unfortunate that a question arises whether Dalit literature is still out of mainstream literature.

Director of the workshop Prof Appagere Somashekar from Central University of Karnataka (CUK), Kalaburagi, said, “The songs of Dalit movement that is considered the inspiration for Dalit literature should be exploited to its fullest, to set the tone for complete literature.”

Budding writers from Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and Dakshina Kannada districts coming under Mysuru division are attending the workshop.

Sahitya Academy chairperson Malathi Pattanshetty, registrar C H Bhagya, Prof Shivaram Shetty, Sandesha director Fr Victor Vijay Lobo and Academy member Meti Mudiyappa were present.