A remark by Bengali litterateur Sunil Gangopadhyay on the novels written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore and Sarat Chandra Chattpadhyay brought a section of writers on the warpath, some of them even questioning the stature of Gangopadhya as a writer.

On May 19, at a function at the Bangla Academy to mark the birth centenary of novelist Manik Bandopadhyay, Gangopadhyay stunned the audience, which included Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, with his comments.

He said that the novels written by Bankim, Tagore and Sarat Chandra could not be called novels in the classical sense of the term.

Later, speaking to The Indian Express, Gangopadhyay elaborated on it. “As far as structure is concerned, the works of Bankim, Rabindranath and Sarat Chandra cannot be called ‘novels’. What they wrote was sort of romance. In Bengali literature, the troika of Manik, Bhibhuti Bhushan and Tarashankar created the works what we should call novels. I have heard that I am being criticised for this but I will stick to my point,” said the chairman of Sahitya Akademi.

He came in for sharp criticism from a section of authors led by Buddhadeb Guha.

Pouring vitriol on him, Guha said he did not consider Gangopadhya an author. “He is no author at all. What has he written? His comments prove his utter ignorance. You might have become the chairman of Sahitya Akademi but that does not give you the right to comment on everything. Those who say that Bankim, Rabindra and Sarat didn’t write novels are colossal fools,” Guha told The Indian Express.

Noted author Nabaneeta Deb Sen, however, called the whole debate embarrassing and unsavoury.