Govt Must Observe
Manto Centenary:
Yechury
In a letter written
to Dr Manmohan
Singh, the prime minister of India,
on May 10, 2012, CPI(M)’s Polit Bureau member and its
parliamentary group
leader Sitaram Yechury has urged the government of India
to initiate appropriate steps
for observation of the birth centenary of Sa’adat Hasan Manto.
In this context,
Yechury reminded that Manto was one of the greatest short
story writers not of
Urdu alone but of this whole subcontinent. He
was born on May 11, 1912. Literary critics have often compared
him to Guy de
Maupassant. As a writer, Manto exposed various ills and
hypocrisy prevalent in
our society and picturised the country’s partition in all its
horror, while upholding
the finest values of humanism all through. He urged the
prime minister to
atleast ensure that Manto's short stories are translated and
made available in
English and other Indian languages during the course of the
year.
People's Democracy