after an sgpc official lodged a complaint against punjabi poet surjit singh gagg for hurting religious sentiments with his poem maite nanak sahit akademi award winning novelist baldev singh sadaknama is facing the heat over his recent novel on maharaja ranjit singh the raging debate can largely be classified between leftist and sikh activists netizens writers and commentators from punjab as well as from the diaspora with a few writers organizations defending the novelist and his work from criticswith both sides digging up the past lines between literature and political leanings have blurred yet again although i am not associated with any party but the debate has taken a leftist versus sikhs shape said sadaknama against who a few sikh activists filed a police complaint in jalandharrecently a complaint was submitted to bathinda dc against sadanknamas criticsthe release of the novel sooraj di akh based on maharaja ranjit singh also coincided with the release of the hollywood film the black prince based on maharaja ranjit singhs son duleep singhwhile very few writers expressed support for gagg sadaknama got comparatively wider support mainly from writers or netizens with left leaningsludhianabased punjabi sahit akademi issued a statement extending support to sadaknama and even defended his novel but this backfired as two former akademi presidents central university bathinda chancellor dr sardara singh johl and dr surjit patar came on record saying their consent was not taken before issuing the statement another former president and noted poet gurbhajan gill also said that he had not commented on the novel meanwhile patar called for a reasoned debatejanmeja johl whose name was included in the statement said his consent was not taken either akademi president dr sukhdev singh sirsa admitted their consent was not takenthe statement was issued as we have the tradition of mentioning names of all executive members and officebearers but yes confirmation was not taken from individuals as we took their consent for granted he said adding no one has any business abusing writersanother writer jatinder singh aulakh came on record saying he never supported sadaknamas novel but a leftist story writer included his name in a statement issued in sadaknamas supportsupporters want case against criticsbathindabased sahit sabhiachar manch and a few other leftist organisations submitted a memorandum to the bathinda dc seeking registration of a cybercrime case against 11 persons who strongly criticised sadaknama and his novel the memo alleged that they provoked others who used abusive language for the writer association for democratic rights which was the first one to defend gagg is also among the complainants against sikh netizensthe counterviewleftist writers have been criticized for their kneejerk reactions the leftist approach has been provocative in the past and in the present i disagree with the use of abusive language but they need to be reasoned and honest in their approach isnt it interesting that their stand suited the state in the past said punjabi writer rajwinder singh rahi a leftist activist turned sikh writer who has authored books on the