Thaindian News

Kolkata, Nov 24 (IANS) Days after calling the West Bengal government “fascist”, Magsaysay Award winning writer-activist Mahasweta Devi Thursday said her remark was not targeted at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who “can never be a fascist”.

“I did not call anybody fascist in particular…Mamata can never be a fascist. The ‘chief minister’ and the ‘government’ are not synonymous,” Mahasweta Devi said.

“I not only adore Mamata for her fighting abilities but also respect her for the same. I will continue to do so in future. I also do not wish that this government loses power,” the octogenarian writer said in a signed article in Bengali daily Bartaman.

Referring to her media meet Monday, Mahasweta Devi said: “Probably what I said was, ‘Are we trying to bring back fascism?’ The comments were made thoughtfully and were not driven by emotion.”

The writer, who had strongly backed Mamata Banerjee during her fight as an opposition leader against the erstwhile Left Front regime, made the comment Monday (Nov 21) after human rights organisation Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) was denied permission to hold a rally at Metro Channel area in the city hub.

The remark prompted Banerjee to say that the writer was “misinformed and misled” and had been “tutored” by others to make the comment.

Denying Banerjee’s allegations, Mahasweta Devi said she had not been tutored by anybody. Rather, the observations were based on her experiences of the state’s political situation over the past three years.

Stating that there were rifts within the ruling Trinamool Congress, Mahasweta Devi wrote that many cadres call her from different parts of the state to complain against their party.

“If I wanted to write against the party and the state government, I could have done so earlier. But I have always tried not to do anything which may jeopardise either the party or the state government.”

“I never intended that such things should come out in the public and had to manage my public demonstrations and meetings accordingly. Enough is enough, I can’t do this anymore,” she wrote.

Mahasweta Devi, who has also received the civilian honour Padma Bhushan and the highest literary award Jnanpith, said she will no more write to the government seeking jobs for underprivileged people like she used to do even during the former Left regime.