The DD Kosambi Festival of Ideas was conceived as a platform to unite and celebrate diverse thoughts from various spheres of life, and as a tribute to the life and works of the legendary son of the Goan soil, Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi.
Now in the 14th edition since its inception in 2008, the festival has run into controversy as the Art and Culture Department on the eve of the festival has decided to postpone the festival citing Class X and XII first term exams. The event was to be held from November 10-14.
It would be naive on the part of the Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude to expect that the festival enthusiasts will accept his explanation of “poor response from students” for the postponement of the event.
Goans and football enthusiasts had accepted last month the minister’s explanation, with a pinch of salt, for the poor attendance during the FIFA U-17 Women World Cup matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda. Gaude as Sports Minister had cited school exams ahead of the first term break as the reason for poor response to the international event.
However, DD Kosambi Festival of Ideas is neither a school students’ focussed event nor a last minute dished out programme of the Art and Culture Department. As acknowledged by a former director of the department, preparations for the festival start a year before the actual day as the process involves shortlisting the dignitaries and then contacting them as per their availability.
Except for 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the festival has been organised annually and has had globally celebrated speakers, usually personalities from various spheres of life, who have been an inspiration and motivation to the world.
This year’s line-up of speakers, as made public by the Department through the media, included Prof Madhavi Menon, Dr Devdutt Pattanaik and Dr Suraj Yengde, apart from Jnanpith Awardee Damodar Mauzo and Prof Pranay Lal. However, the website of the festival on Wednesday stated “speakers will be announced soon”.
The Minister and his department stand exposed that the festival was indeed called off due to pressure from the right-wing organisations and the ruling party itself, as some of the speakers have been critical of them.
By cancelling the event at the last minute, the BJP-led government has provided impetus to the already dwindling image of the country on the freedom and democracy indices globally.
In the ‘Freedom in the World 2022’ report by the Freedom House, India was described as ‘partly free’ second time consecutively after being described as ‘free’ for four consecutive years from 2017–2020.
The overview of its sub-report on India stated, “The constitution guarantees civil liberties including freedom of expression and freedom of religion, but harassment of journalists, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), and other government critics has increased significantly under Modi.”
Goa is known globally for its welcoming culture, and freedom of life and safety as compared to the rest of the country. However, the government’s decision to call off the DD Kosambi Festival of Ideas raises many concerns over the direction in which the State is moving.
While Damodar Kosambi was a proclaimed Marxist and atheist and known as “the patriarch of the Marxist school of Indian historiography”, his father Acharya Dharmananda Kosambi though born in a Saraswat Brahmin family, was a prominent Indian Buddhist scholar and Pāli language expert, who under the influence of Jainism, decided to give up his life through sallekhana (voluntary fasting).
Indeed, with each passing year, the DD Kosambi Festival of Ideas has garnered great response, seeing frontrunners from various fields including governance, health, education, social thought, culture, technology, administration, etc, come forward to put forth their thoughts and interact with the public. The event attracts not only Goans but people from other States and other countries too. Therefore, this last minute ditch is a disservice to all those who looked forward to attending the event.
Dissent is a fundamental pillar of democracy and shouldn’t be crushed bowing down to pressure tactics of some groups, community or political party. DD Kosambi Festival of Ideas should have been held as per scheduled dates and the speakers.
