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Bombayites ask Gavaskar to turn down award

Fourteen prominent Bombay residents have appealed to former Indian cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar to refuse the Maharashtra Bhushan award, which the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government seeks to confer on him.

In the letter, Dr Y D Phodkar, Professor Pushpa Bhave, Ratnakar Matkar, Prof Subhash Bhende, Hema Adhikari, Nikhil Wagle, Manohar Kadam, Ranganath Pathore, Simon Martin, Tulsi Parah and Satish Kalsekar said that former chief minister Manohar Joshi has lost the right to represent the cultured people of Bombay.

"We are releasing this letter on behalf of all those citizens supporting an individual's right to freedom and cherishing democratic values after having been hurt by the vandalism and violence unleashed by the functionaries of law and order," the letter said.

It demanded to know the steps the government would take to check the senseless violence, and to preserve the cultural heritage of Maharashtra.

Lashing out at Manohar Joshi and Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, the letter continued, "A place known by the name Shivaji Park is just not a playground in Dadar. It is the sporting culture of this city nurtured zealously over a period of time. It is a cultural preserve by the city. The same place is now going to witness the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan. We would have approved of it under normal times."

Observing that the Sahitya Sammelan is a cultural festival, an occasion better handled by the people associated with literature, the letter said, "Normally, it is expected that the chairperson of the welcome committee be someone representing the culture of the venue where the sammelan is being held. But Manohar Joshi has lost the moral right to inaugurate such a festival on behalf of the city."

A person who chose to remain a mere spectator after the firing incident at Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar, a person who has shown disrespect for the finding of the Srikrishna Commission, a person who remained impotent in the face of threats issued to cricketers by his party chief Bal Thackeray, a person who congratulated the mob rioting over the screening of the controversial film Fire, a person who allowed the ransacking of the Board of Cricket Control in India -- such a person can never represent the cultural and tolerant people of Bombay, the letter said.

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