Nearly 250 writers and artists on Saturday extended support to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra which is passing through Maharashtra's Hingoli district.
A delegation of writers including Ganesh Devy, Pratibha Shinde, and Lakshmikant Deshmukh met Gandhi at Kalamnuri and handed him a memorandum besides having a discussion with him.
"We had a meeting with him. Nearly 250 writers and artists extended support to our memorandum," Marathi writer Laxmikant Deshmukh told PTI.
The group told Gandhi that `soft Hindutva' adopted by some political parties as an answer to the Bharatiya Janata Party's Hindutva was not acceptable, he said,
"Congress should also speak about other communities as this country belongs to them too," Deshmukh said.
"KG to PG education is the right of the youth in this country. But education is not affordable. We don't lack resources, but there is a lack of willpower," he said.
Other points discussed during the meeting and covered in the memorandum were the farmers' plight and anti-farmer policies, and dilution of labor laws which is detrimental to permanent employment and social security of workers, he said.
"Labour laws should be rigid enough to provide security to workers and flexible enough to unleash the animal spirit of industrialists to create wealth," the memorandum said.
The freedom of writers also came up for discussion in the meeting
"Freedom is essential for the progress, dignity, and happiness of people. Art, culture, and literature bloom only in a free environment. Freedom and fundamental rights are now under a threat of unparalleled scale and dimensions," Deshmukh said.
(Inputs from PTI)
