Defiance

The fanfare was missing when the book fair at the Salt Lake Stadium was inaugurated on Feb 9. The CM decided to give it a miss, and instead spoke of ‘pain’ he suffered when the court decided not to permit Kolkata Book Fair at the Maidan.

In absence of CM, the onus fell on transport minister Subhas Chakraborty to lend credence to the fair, though it was inaugurated by Australian novelist, Thomas Keneally, the author of Booker Prize winning novel, Schindler’s Ark that was later made into an Academy Award winning blockbuster movie, Schindler’s List by Steven Spielberg.

Keneally’s august presence could not deter minister Chakraborty thundering amid large applause that next year Kolkata Book Fair will return to Maidan. But how?

Both CM and his cabinet colleague are presenting a show of defiance. It’ll not be wrong to say that 3-decade long rein in the state has made them arrogant and feel themselves above law. Lest you think they’ve no respect for law of land, let there be no doubt that if they have any personal dispute to settle (highly unlikely because they are very powerful persons, so only few people will dare pick up personal feud with them), they will inevitably go to the ‘honorable’ courts for settlement.

In my earlier posts (Book fair to shift and Some people’s concern = Others’ misery), I have argued that holding book fair at Maidan is in fact going against Science and the Law of Land.

Since both are creations of beautiful, courageous and reasonable minds, and not by boisterous and arrogant arguments, there is far less sound of exuberance at the High Court’s ruling. This is why poet Sankho Ghosh’s humble submission at the book fair inauguration that “culture does not depend on a particular place to flourish” sounds so loud and clear above the din of powers-that-be.