M.T. stood with progressive ideals, says M.V. Govindan

M.T. Vasudevan Nair, a progressive writer aligned with Left politics, was honored at a seminar by CPI(M) State secretary.

The late writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair always stood with progressive ideals and was a fellow-traveller of Left politics, Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan has said.

He was opening a seminar on ‘M.T.: A political reading’ organised by the CPI(M)-affiliated Keluettan Centre for Study and Research here on Thursday.

Mr. Govindan said that M.T. was never part of the CPI(M). On the contrary, he had criticised the party on several occasions. “However, when it came to taking a stand on progressive ideals, he always aligned with the Left. M.T. strongly voiced his objections against fascism and the targeting of writers and activists by the majoritarian government. He spoke against demonetisation. M.T. was also in the forefront of the struggle against the saffronisation of the Sahitya Akademi,” the CPI(M) leader said.

Mr. Govindan recalled that when Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T.P. Chandrasekharan was murdered at Onchiyam in Kozhikode, a group of writers and cultural activists started a signature campaign. But, M.T. refused to be part of it, and he reportedly said that the CPI(M) as a political party was “essential” for Kerala.

M.T.’s efforts to retain the secular character of Thunchan Parambu in Tirur, considered to be the birth place of Thunchath Ezhuthachan, the father of modern Malayalam, were indeed noteworthy. “There is nothing surprising in both majority fundamentalists and minority fundamentalists and those espousing the cause of a theocratic state attacking him through new media after his death,” Mr. Govindan said.

Mr. Govindan pointed out that M.T. had raised an important philosophical viewpoint on language through his writings. “He handled the emotional dimensions of Malayalis with consummate ease and made Malayalam capable of communicating with a large majority of the ordinary people. M.T.’s creative works embodied the Malayali perspective on freedom and their idea of humanism.” M.T. concealed an extraordinary world in his ordinary language. The villages depicted in his literary works represented a cross-section of the whole world, he said.

Mr. Govindan said that through reinterpreting ancient epics and folktales, M.T. shed light into another side of characters who were always portrayed as demons and villains earlier. “People’s struggle and their fight against power, their failures, and their continuing fights often found space in his works. Feudal decay and the rise of modernity were represented in his characters. M.T. also created many strong women characters before whom men found themselves diminished in stature,” he added. K.T. Kunhikannan, director, Keluettan Centre for Study and Research, and writers Khadeeja Mumthas and K.P. Ramanunni, among others, were present.