I want to make it clear that I am not returning this award because I am shocked by what is being called the growing intolerance being fostered by the present government.
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In the series of award returning actions, here comes a few more to keep the momentum in flow. As was speculated in certain media circles, writer-activist Arundhati Roy too put her national award down in support of series of her literary folks.
They also expressed solidarity with students from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), who recently concluded a months-long protest against undue government interference in academia.
Although I do not believe that awards are a measure of the work we do, I would like to add the National Award for Best Screenplay that I won in 1989 to the growing pile of returned awards.
Other prominent names in the list of those who have returned the awards on Thursday included documentary filmmaker Anwar Jamal, director Virendra Saini, Pradip Krishnen, Manoj Lobo, sound designers Vivek Sachidanand, PM Satheesh, Ajay Raina, director Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti, editor Irene Dhar Malik, cinematographer Satya Rai Nagpaul, director Amitabh Chakraborty, filmmaker Tapan Bose and Madhusree Dutta.
Making it clear that she was no supporter of the opposition Congress, or a critic of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, she ended the article by saying: “For the record, I turned down the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2005, when the Congress was in power”.
Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu hit back at those who had returned their awards at a Know the Truth briefing in Delhi stating that efforts are being made to derail the Modi government’s development agenda.
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“It allows me to be a part of a political movement initiated by writers, filmmakers and academics in this country who have risen up against a kind of ideological viciousness and an assault on our collective IQ that will tear us apart and bury us very deep if we do not stand up to it now”, she wrote.
