NEW DELHI: Earlier it was Jhanan Di Reat by Punjabi poet Harinder Singh Mehboob. Now it is the turn of Socha Jun Sooratun (Images of Thought) by a Sindhi poet Harikant Jethwani.
While Mehboob had a dig at Indira Gandhi for her operation Blue Starat Amritsar, Jethwani in one of his poems condemns Indias tricolor for carrying a color of human blood and asks his people not to bow before the Indian national flag. Mehboobs book and award given to him for it created a furore in Indias Hindu media, the same story is now being repeated in the case of Jethwanis work.
The “Times of India” carried an article condemning the award to the “anti-national” book by the Sahtya Akademi,
The article noted that Jethwanis poetry had been hailed by Sindhi literary quarters as the first-ever Sindhi poetry of political satire but some of the works included in the book, according to the article, degenerated into falsification of Nehru Gandhi dynasty.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 25, 1992
