In the letter sent by him to the Academy, Bhardwaj said, “There is growing concern among writers and intelligentsia against attacks and killing by hardline communal forces and the failure of Sahitya Akademi to stand up for them (writers)”.
Advertisement
The Indo-Asian News Service quoted Konkani writer N. Shivadas as saying: “Over 30 Konkani writers have received the Sahitya Akademi award since the 1970s”.
Sahgal said that she took the decision after a 52-year-old Muslim man was killed by a mob in Dadri, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, in September, for allegedly consuming beef.
In a etter addressed to the President of the Akademi, Tarikeri said, “It is sad that the Sahitya Akademi has not condemned the brutal murder of Kalburgi, an eminent scholar and Akademi award recipient”.
Akademi can only confer awards and has no provision to take it back from writers.
Other writers present at the press briefing included Nagesh Karmali, Meena Kakodkar, Hema Naik, Dilip Borkar, Prakash Padgaonkar and Arun Sakhardande. They also vowed to protest at the forthcoming 46th global Film Festival of India (IFFI).
In Punjab, as many as seven writers and poets Surjit Patar, Jaswinder Singh, Baldev Singh Sadaknama Darshan Bhuttar, Ajmer Singh Aulakh, Atamjit Singh, Gurbachan Bhullar and Canada-based writer Waryam Sandhu also gave up their respective awards, which were instituted in 1955. “Many writers have returned their awards…Following their footsteps, I have also returned my award”, said Bhardwaj.
“How it is that none of them were prompted to return the awards earlier and why now?” he asked.
“My sentiments are hurt the way M M Kalburgi was shot dead and Akademi is unable to do anything to protect the rights of writers and not even expressed any condolence on this serious issue”, showing letter to media persons, the former DD Director, commented.
“What binds them is their deep moorings in secular and democratic values”.
Noted English fiction writer Amitav Ghosh on Thursday said he would not return his prestigious Sahitya Akademi award as the move would amount to a “repudiation of the institution’s history”.
Advertisement
More than 40 novelists, essayists, playwrights and poets have returned their Sahitya Akademi awards, claiming that “India’s culture of diversity and debate was now under vicious assault”.
