Controversial Poet Srijato Bandyapadhyay, who wrote Hinduphic ‘Condom on Trishul’ poem, invited as guest by Sahitya Akademi, event cancelled after outrage

Srijato Bandyapadhyay wrote a highly offensive poem called ‘Condom on Trishul’.
Bengali poet Srijato Bandyapadhyay (Image via BanglaLive, X/@MehHarshil)

In a display of utter lack of sensitivity towards the sentiments of Hindus, Sahitya Akademi (an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Culture) invited controversial Bengali poet, Srijato Bandyapadhyay, who wrote a Hinduphobic poem, to an event as one of the guests. Bandyapadhyay had talked about putting a condom on Trishul in his controversial poem.

His name was mentioned in the list of guests on a brochure relating to an event titled ‘Abhivyakti’, which was scheduled to be organised on 25th October in Kolkata, West Bengal. Notably, Bandyapadhyay was not the only Hinduphobic person on the guest list; the name of poet and TMC leader Subodh Sarkar, who organised a beef party in 2015 against ‘rising intolerance in the country’, was also mentioned among the guests.

However, the event was cancelled by the Sahitya Akademi after facing massive backlash from people, who called out the institution for inviting individuals who openly disrespected and hurt Hindu religious sentiments.

People on social media slammed the Sahitya Akademi for actively promoting and facilitating Hinduphobia.

People expressed disappointment over the Sahitya Akademi repetitively hurting the sentiments of Hindus by providing a platform to people, who selectively target Hindu religion.

This is not the only time that the Sahitya Akademi is embroiled in controversy for offending Hindu sentiments. Last year in November, the autonomous body had extended invitation to Devdutt Pattanaik to give the inaugural address to a seminar titled ‘Indian Mythology: Memory, Retellings and Translations’. The event was also cancelled following a public outrage when people highlighted how the so-called ‘mythologist’ abused women in multiple tweets using dehumanising language.

Who is Srijato Bandyapadhyay

Srijato Bandyapadhyay is a Bengali poet who wrote the infamous poem called ‘Abhishap’ (Curse), in which he penned a line about putting a condom on a trishul (the divine weapon of Lord Shiva). He posted the poem on his Facebook page in March 2017, on the day Yogi Adityanath was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

A translation of the derogatory lines of the poem reads as “As long as women are raped after being excavated from their graves, condoms should be worn on Trishuls”. An FIR was lodged against Bandyapadhyay in the Siliguri Cyber Crime Police Station. The poem also compared CM Yogi Adityanath to a disease.

Written by OpIndia Staff
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