Mathrubhumi weekly editor Kamalram Sajeev resigns, says “ Long Live Secular India”

Mathrubhumi Weekly editor Kamalram Sajeev on Tuesday tweeted that he resigned from the weekly.

In a brief announcement on Twitter, Sajeev said: “Resigned from Mathrubhumi: 15 years of creative and active journalism with mathrubhumi weekly ends.thanks, don, manila, subi, sreekumar and shereef, my beloved colleagues. Long live secular India!”

Earlier Dr. P.K. Rajasekharan, senior sub-editor and well known Malayalam critique and Manila.C.Mohan, Sub-Editor of Mathrubhumi Weekly had also stepped down from the weekly.

In what is believed to be a direct fallout of the row over the Malayalam novel, ‘Meesha’, which had faced the wrath of certain Hindu groups, Mathrubhumi had removed Sajeev from the charge of weekly on October 25 and appointed writer Subhash Chandran in his place.

Noted Malayalam writer S. Haressh had withdrawn  ‘Meesha’( Moustache)

from Mathrubhumi weekly in July this year, citing threats from certain groups who targeted him for “anti-Hindu dialogues” in the novel.

Sajeev had announced the withdrawal on Twitter with a bitter note. “S. Hareesh withdraws his novel ‘Meesa’, literature is being mob lynched, the darkest day in Kerala’s cultural history, lightless days to follow,” Sajeev had tweeted.

Later, the Supreme Court on September 5 dismissed a plea seeking to ban ‘Meesha’, saying “craftsmanship of a writer deserves to be respected”.

But Mathrubhumi Joint Managing Director, M.V Shreyams Kumar had said that Sajeev’s removal from the weekly had nothing to do with the Meesha row. “He has been with us for the last 15 years. It’s a natural thing. It has nothing to do with the Meesha row,” he had said.

Mathrubhumi Joint Managing Editor P V Nidhish Chandran had also echoed the same line. “We have appointed Subhash Chandran in the weekly. Kamalram has gone on a long leave. We will decide upon his next role once he returns”.

Reacting to the developments, noted scholar J Devika told Outlook: “It is sad. It shows the decline of Mathrubhumi weekly. It seems Mathruhbumi is under pressure from certain companies which feed the Hindutva politics in Kerala”