If imported is Anathema, then reject Communism first – M Mukundan

Illustrious writer M Mukundan has launched a scathing attack against Communism, stating that if anything that has crept into society from outside is anathema, the first to be rejected and discarded is Communism.

When writers including him, OV Vijayan and Kakkanadan ushered in modernity into literature, those who swooped to oppose the same were leftist politicians and intellectuals. The reason furnished by them was that modernity was imported from outside. In that case, were Marx, Lenin and Stalin Malayalis? And going by those lines, Communism too is imported stuff,” said Mukundan, speaking at the commemorative event in memory of Nooranadu Haneef.

Pointing out yet another of those opposing reasons offered by Communists was that “modern literary works did not create Malayali characters”. Seeking to know whither lay the rule that emphasized on Malayali writers creating only Malayali characters, Mukundan said that “writers always warble the story of man”.

“This character has no religion, caste or ideology. In fact the only role rendered by modern literature is that it brought lettering to man. However, this noble task also stood to be condemned. If fetters are put to writers, there will be no more literary output,” he said.