Writer and theatre artist Kamal C Chavara was called in for questioning by police in Kozhikode following a complaint that he had insulted the National Anthem in his novel. The complaint was given by a member of the Yuva Morcha, the BJP Youth Wing, in Karunagapally in Kollam district.
According to the complaint, Kamal insulted the National Anthem in his book “Smashanangalude Notupusthakam”. In the book, Kamal writes, “In a school in Kerala, there were 44 students who were named after 44 rivers of Kerala, which had all dried up. The teacher never bothered to meet the requests of those students, including the request to go to the toilet to urinate. At 4pm every day they had to stand up for the National Anthem. Since urinating was more important for me than 'Jana Gana Mana', I was the most indisciplined student.”
Kamal had also recently put up a Facebook post that quoted this portion of the book, and the complaint by the Yuva Morcha cited both the book and the FB post.
Kamal told the media that he had posted some lines from his new book, which mention the National Anthem, but asserted that not a single word in these lines was an insult directed at the National Anthem.
He also alleged that, two days ago, the police had raided his house and threatened his parents.
“Some Yuva Morcha worker gave a complaint to the state DGP and he assigned the Kollam Commissioner to enquire about it. Now waiting for arrest. I don’t understand why police violently raided my parents’ house, though my books and Facebook profile were publicly available,” he wrote on Facebook.
He also said that he was not prepared to withdraw his words. “The words have my life in them, so I am not ready to withdraw them. Pinarayi should not become Kerala’s Modi,” he wrote.
While certain media reports said that Kamal had been charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Kollam Police Commissioner Satheesh Bino, said that the police were still investigating the matter. “We have not officially arrested him yet. He has written something against the National Anthem in his book and on Facebook. We have received the complaint. We are investigating on this. So we are interrogating him to get details," the Commissioner said.