Kottayam: A Malayalam writer has been forced to withdraw his novel from a prominent weekly, which had been serialising it for the past few weeks, following threats and abuses.
S Hareesh on Saturday withdrew his novel 'Meesha' (moustache) from the weekly after a portion of it drew harsh criticism and threats from Hindutva followers. 'Meesha' is the first novel by Hareesh, who has won several awards including the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award for best short story writer in 2018.
Hareesh said he took the decision following unbearable threats from certain organisations and their followers. The abusers were provoked by a dialogue by a character about women's intentions behind visiting temples.
Hareesh had earlier in a Facebook post said that he would file a complaint against those who post abusive comments against his wife and spread her photo online.
Three episodes of the novel were published.
'Rasavidhyayude Charithram' and 'Aadam' are his short story collections. Hareesh hails from Neendoor in Kottayam district.
Hareesh's move to withdraw his novel is being compared with Tamil writer Perumal Murugan's decision to stop writing after his novel 'Mathorubhagan' had evoked similar threats from Hindutva wing. However, after a literary exile of 19 months, Murugan resumed writing in 2016 by publishing a collection of 200 poems.
