Writers Step up Protest, Four More Return Sahitya Akademi Award

'Decrying the rising intolerance and communal atmosphere in the country as manifested by incidents such as the murder of writer MM Kalburgi and the lynching of a Muslim man over rumours that he had eaten beef, four eminent writers announced on Sunday that they were returning their Sahitya Akademi awards, while Kannada writer Aravind Malagatti resigned from the body’s general council – joining the growing protest by litterateurs and cultural personalities that has already seen more than a dozen resignations and open letters directed at the literary institution, the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Eminent writers Gurbachan Bhullar, Ajmer Singh Aulakh and Atamjit Singh from Punjab and GN Devy from Gujarat today announced that they were returning their Sahitya Akademi awards like several other authors including Nayantara Sehgal, Sarah Joseph, Uday Prakash and Ashok Vajpeyi demanding that the Akademi speak out against the killing of its member Kalburgi and other rationalists and the “communal” atmosphere in the backdrop of the Dadri lynching incident. Recently, literary figures like Shashi Deshpande, K Satchidanandan, P K Parakkadavu had resigned from their posts in the Akademi, citing similar reasons. Among those who have also raised their voices are the Carnatic vocalist T.M. Krishna, the poets Keki N. Dariwalla and Adil Jusawalla, the Hindi author Mridula Garg and the Urdu writer Rahman Abbas...'