Politics, religion, and market, all interfere with literature: Poet Ashok Vajpeyi

New Delhi, Aug 9 (PTI) Poet-critic Ashok Vajpeyi here said that power, politics, religion and market forces interfere with literature.

Speaking during the first Manohar Shyam Joshi memorial lecture on Thursday evening at India International Centre, Vajpeyi expressed his views on the current state of literature, society and politics.

"...None of them have any care for literature or need of it, yet they do no desist from interfering with literature. They do not interfere directly but in a way that it pollutes, breaks and restricts the grounds created for literature," Vajpeyi said.

The former chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi said it is time for an "all-inclusive politics" that decides what to wear, what to eat and drink. "Everything is being decided by politics. There is a centralisation of power, everything is being decided at the top. The basis for a democracy is that power is decentralised.

"All the cultural institutions are being powerless. They have become so powerless that nobody knows who is the head of Sahitya Akademi, who knows who is the chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi. This is the state of institutions today," Vajpeyi said.

He argued that these interferences in the general lives of people is interference with literature as the latter takes its essence from life.

"These interferences in general lives are interferences in literature as it takes its essence from life. Literature is an art form that believes life is bigger than everything. Literature will always be insufficient. And if you pollute the ground of something that respects its insufficiency, it is an interference with literature," the 84-year-old said.

The memorial lecture was organised by Jankipul Trust to observe the 91st birth anniversary of writer and journalist Manohar Shyam Joshi.

Born on this day in 1933, Joshi was known as the writer of soap opera "Hum Log" (1984), "Buniyaad" (1987), and "Kakaji Kahin" (1988), besides novels "Kasap" and "Kyap", for which he received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2005. PTI MAH MAH BK BK