Award Winning Kerala Author S Hareesh Withdraws Novel After Threats From Hindutva Outfits

Kozhikode: Noted author S Hareesh has withdrawn his latest novel, ‘Meesha’, after allegedly being threatened by some right-wing elements on social media.

The Sahitya Academy award winner decided to withdraw his novel after publishing just three chapters of the novel and being targeted by a group of pro-Hindutva activists.

The novel was being published as a series in the Malayalam weekly Mathrubhumi. The novel, whose three chapters have been published so far, was mired in controversy soon after its second chapter was out.

Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor who himself is in the middle of a major controversy over his comments of ‘Hindu Pakistan’ has come out in support of Hareesh and tweeted, “Those who do not believe my warnings about the emergence of a Hindutva Taliban might learn from what has just happened to Malayalam writer Hareesh (& even more chilling, the threat to chop off his hands, Taliban-style).”

Hareesh has been subjected to threats and attacks on social media for allegedly denouncing women who go to temples. Right-wing supporters have taken offence to a conversation between two characters in the novel.​ “S. Hareesh withdraws his novel ‘Meesha’, literature is being mob lynched, darkest day in Kerala’s cultural history, lightless days to follow,” Kamalram Sajeev, the editor of Mathrubhumi tweeted.

Sajeev told PTI that the writer submitted a letter to the weekly saying he does not want to continue with the novel-series.

"In the letter, Hareesh has said that there was a cyber attack against him and his family and said he was not able to withstand the pressure, so he was withdrawing the novel," the editor told PTI.

Not only him, his family has also been subjected to threats on social media, following which the author decided to withdraw his novel.

According to PTI, a group of people, suspected to be Hindu Aikya Vedi activists, recently disrupted a book exhibition of the Mathrubhumi group held at Thripunithura in Kochi as a mark of protest against the novel.

Earlier, renowned Tamil writer Perumal Murugan had announced his retirement in 2015 after his novel ‘Madhorubhagan’ was hit by violent protests by alleged Hindu-groups.