Kottapalle to preside over 86th Marathi literary meet

Former vice-chancellor of the Babasaheb Ambedkar University Dr Nagnath Kottapalle has been elected president of the 86th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (All India Marathi Literary Meet) to be held in Chiplun in January. Kottapalle got 584 of the 889 votes, defeating his nearest rival by 420 votes.

"I am really happy. So many great people have given their views at this forum that I feel honoured to be elected to lead this forum and have it as a platform to give my opinions," said Kottapalle.

Rubbishing the notion that the Sammelan president should be selected rather than elected, Kottapalle said, "How can a group of five or ten people selecting a candidate be more proper and authentic than all the members of a confederation casting their votes and electing a candidate?"

Dr Kottapalle has many poems, stories and novels in Marathi to his credit and has received various awards including the state award for five of his books.

Stating that his primary objective is to promote Marathi among young readers, he said reading habits should be inculcated right from the school, while universities and institutions should promote it as much as they can. "I am planning a research on reading habits of rural and urban masses to understand the literature that interests them so that what they like can be promoted. Writers from rural areas as well as those who write on social causes should be encouraged," Kottapalle said.

He said the central government should give 'classical' status to Marathi language.

Talking about society's growing intolerance to controversial literature, Kottapalle said growing tension in life is the root. "Our life is now filled with tension and there is no way to vent it. So whenever a small issue arises, people take out the tension by directing it towards that issue even if they have got nothing to do with it. This is what we perceive as society's intolerance."

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