CHENNAI: Sahitya Akademi award winner and Tamil novelist R.N. Joe D’Cruz on Sunday claimed that he was facing ‘intellectual threats’ after he expressed his support for BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on a social networking site.
D’Cruz, whose second novel, Korkai, won him the prestigious literary award, said his publisher had decided to cancel the agreement signed with him and withdrew the English translation of his first novel, Aazhi Soozh Ulagu, because of his political inclinations.
D’Cruz had signed up with Navayana, a Delhi-based publishing house, for the English translation of Aazhi Soozh Ulagu (Ocean Ringed World) and it was due out in late 2014. The book, based on the lives of catamaran fishermen, was published in Tamil in 2004 and it won D’Cruz a state government award in 2005.
“The translation has been completed and the book was about to go for printing. I am considering legal action,” D’Cruz told Deccan Chronicle. “One-and-a-half years of translation work has now been stalled. I have a professional career to fall back on. But if the book had been written by an author who makes a living only by writing, will such a decision not affect him?” he added.
S. Anand, publisher, Navayana, said, “It is both appalling that D’Cruz, who captured the rich and unique history of the seafaring community of Tamil Nadu in an epic tale spanning three generations, should call a fascist like Modi a ‘dynamic visionary’. Joe told me over the phone that this was, indeed, his stand and that his decision was personal. However, there cannot be a place for such an author in a political publishing house like Navayana.”
Feminist writer V. Geetha, who translated the book, said she was terribly distressed when she read D’Cruz’s statement of support for Modi. “He is entitled to his political opinion, but I don’t want to be associated with anyone or anything linked to Modi. We can’t forget Gujarat 2002 (riots) and no one must be allowed to, either,” she said in a statement.
Geetha added, “I still stand by his novel, which I think is a fantastic saga of fishermen’s lives, and I am sorry Joe has decided to trade his considerable gifts as a novelist for a politics that is fascist and dangerous. I have, therefore, decided to withdraw my translation.”
Noted Tamil writer B. Jeyamohan told Deccan Chronicle that it was a pity that a few people like this publishing house were not able to understand the creative work of a writer. “They cannot pressurise the writer to think in a particular way. It actually sets a bad precedent,” he added.
While D’Cruz’s first book talks about catamaran fishermen, his second book was about sailing as an industry and the next one is about merchant marines (the shipping industry). He has also penned dialogues for the Dhanush-starrer, Maryan, a film directed by Bharat Bala.
