The Kozhikkode Akashvani radio station has refused to play a drama on Veer Savarkar which was scheduled to go on air this Friday. According to a Janmabhumi report, the Kozhikkode radio station master has informed the Thiruvananthapuram radio station about the decision.
Reportedly, the station head gave the ‘rise in coronavirus infections amongst employees’ as the reason to cancel the broadcast.
The All India Radio had issued directives to all state units of Akashvani to broadcast a drama on Veer Savarkar in the ongoing national drama festival. While the main script was given by the AIR, the stations were supposed to translate it into their local language for broadcast.
Kerala has eight radio stations, and each was to prepare the drama on a rotational basis.
The dislike for personalities like Veer Savarkar and MS Golwalkar in Kerala is not new. Earlier this month, Kerala Students Union, the student wing of Congress, had taken out a march and had burnt copies of the Kannur University syllabus that carried extracts from Savarkar’s “Hindutva: Who is a Hindu” and others.
The student wing also accused the University of implementing and enforcing the Sangh Parivar or RSS agenda.
The controversy arose after extracts from Savarkar’s book, Golwalkar’s “Bunch of Thoughts” and “We or Our Nationhood Defined” and portions from Deendayal Upadhyaya’s “Integral Humanism” were included in the syllabus of MA Governance and Politics at Kannur University.
However, Prof Gopinath Ravindran of the University had rubbished the allegations and stated that the students must learn about all ideologies. “We have included the works of Gandhiji, Nehru, Ambedkar and Tagore. The syllabus also includes the works of Savarkar and Golwalkar. Let students learn and understand the basic text behind all ideologies,” he said, asserting that there is nothing wrong in learning about Savarkar and M S Gowalkar.