Pointing out that “the regime can create versifiers, but not poets,” he said, for literature to be genuine, it has to be beyond craft and the obvious.

Narang said this after inaugurating a two-day Northern and Western Writers' Meet at Gujarat Vishwakosh Trust Bhavan on Saturday, under the Aegis of the Sahitya Akademi, Delhi.

He said the ability of writers using words creatively, distinguished them from each other. The Immediate past president of the Akademi, Narang said there was a lot of new writing, but the thing which was beyond the craft, and could impress the mind and psyche of the readers, was missing.

Giving example of Mirza Ghalib, he said it was true creativity expressed in raw words and ability to look beyond, that kept a writer alive even after death. “Word is considered sacred in our culture… it is the Brahma, because even the religious and spiritual truth cannot find an expression without it," he said. He added that word in itself might be limited, but creativity is not.

He said everything that had been said had existed much before its expression. As example, what Gahlib had said was already expressed in the works of Bedil, Urfi and Nazeeri in Jehangir's time, he said. He said the current era was not of isms, because ideology will result only in diktat that will end up in formula writing, ultimately facing rebellion.