Thrissur: Kerala Sahitya Akademi President K Satchidanandan took responsibility for the recent controversies connected to Kerala Sahitya Akademi, the ‘Kerala song,’ and Balachandran Chullikkad. Satchidanandan informed this in a post he shared on Facebook. He also stated in the post that he is taking responsibility for actions in which he had no involvement.
Recently, poet Balachandran Chullikad had expressed his unhappiness towards the reward given to him on January 30 for speaking at the ‘International Literary Festival’ held in Kozhikode, organized by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi. Balachandran Chullikad mentioned that it cost him Rs 3,500 to travel to Kozhikode and speak at the International Literature Festival, but he was paid only Rs 2,400 by the Sahitya Akademi organizers. The poet said that he had to cover the rest of the expense of Rs 1100 from the money he earned from acting in serials.
Kerala Sahitya Akademi had to face a lot of criticism from literary figures and public after Chullikad’s revelations about mistreatment from the Kerala Sahitya Akademi
Following this, poet Sreekumaran Thampi also expressed his discontent on Facebook and criticized the Kerala Sahitya Akademi over the mounting controversies. Sreekumaran Thampi revealed that a few months ago, Kerala Sahitya Akademi President K Satchidanandan and Secretary CP Aboobacker requested him to compose a song for the Kerala government about ‘Kerala’. Based on the request, he composed a song for the Sahitya Akademi within a week and sent it to them. But later, he came to know that his song was rejected without any official intimation. This approach by the Akademy made him feel insulted.
These two incidents triggered several controversies against the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.
Subsequently, responding to the accusations, Satchidanandan said that he had not rejected Sreekumaran Thampi’s lyrics. Instead, the selection committee, including members M Leelavathy and MR Raghava Varrier, rejected the lyrics due to clichéd words, repetition, outdated content, and a lack of novelty.
However, M Leelavathy stated that she had not seen Sreekumaran Thampi’s song, emphasizing her absence at the committee meeting due to health issues, of which Satchidanandan was aware.
In this situation, now K Satchidanandan made a Facebook post stating that he is taking responsibility for the recent controversies related to Balachandran Chullikkad and the Kerala song.
Satchidanandan wrote on Facebook that it is noble to bear the mistakes of others, take responsibility for them, and endure crucifixion. Satchidanandan added that although he was not involved, he took responsibility for the mistakes made by others.
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