Kamala Surayya's conversion to Islam was deliberate - D Vinayachandran

By Khabrein.Info Correspondent,

Trivandrum: Kamala Surayya’s conversion to Islam was a deliberate political activity, says prominent poet D Vinayachandran. He was cheerful of her move to Islam, but was frustrated to see the responses of religious fanatics over Surayya’s decision, he said.

Vinayachandran was inaugurating a Kamala Surayya memorial event organized by ‘Thanima Arts and Literature Forum’ in Trivandrum Press Club. Thanima is the cultural arm of Jamaat-e-Islami Kerala.

Kamala Surayya was the only global writer of Kerala with a talent to tell stories in a different way after Vaikom Muhammed Basheer and Thakazhi Shivashankara Pillai, Mr. Vinayachandran added. Her writing style induces readers to read her again like Basheer and Karoor’s, he said.

Kamla Surayya was an extraordinary gift to Keralites, said poetess O.V Usha. Conversion to Islam did not indicate her weakness. But she could recognize that her mind was thirsty to accept a religion based on single God theory, she said.

The very reason for the controversies against Kamala Surayya was in Kerala people’s failure to identify the matchless talent in the poetess, said Sheik Muhammed Karakkunnu, assistant Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Hindi, Kerala. State General Secretary of Thanima K.A Faisal presided over the function.