They were joined on Tuesday by theatre actor Maya Krishna Rao, who returned her award to the Sangeet Natak Akademi, a government-funded body that promotes theatre, music and dance.
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Sen was given the Swarnajayanti Special Sahitya Akademi Young Writers award in 2004.
“I would like to tell them that freedom of expression must be upheld”.
What has made matters worse is the hypocrisy of numerous eminent protesters, who have chosen to highlight certain issues while conveniently glossing over others.
With this, at least 21 authors and poets have announced their decision to return their awards.
“It is high time that writers take a stand”, said Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi, 74.
“The government has failed in fulfilling its duty of protecting the minorities as enshrined in the Constitution of the country”, he said.
Culture minister Mahesh Sharma has advised Sahitya Akademi winners serially returning their awards in protest to write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders.
“I’m doing this condemning the killings of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi and the Akademi’s silence on the issue; also against the Dadri lynching”, he said.
Sahitya Akademi today said it is committed to freedom of expression and secular values. Author Salman Rushdie has added his voice to the protest, saying that these were “alarming times for free expression in India”.
Expressing his anguish over recent developments, Kannada translator Srinath said,”In the place of the pen, there are now bullets being fired”. He was conferred the award in 2002. Besides, law and order being a state subject, why not pile the pressure on the UP and Karnataka governments to act tough, for, after all, they are the ones vested with the power and the responsibility to crack down on fringe elements in their respective states? In October, he and Mangalesh Dabral return their awards in protest at the Akademi’s continued inaction.
Noted Kashmiri writer and senior journalist, Ghulam Nabi Khayal had on Sunday said he would also return the Sahitya Akademi award in protest against the “increasing communalization and rightwing violence” in India and across J&K.
While she fully agreed with the view that India’s diversity and plurality could never be allowed to be compromised in the name of religion and caste, returning Sahitya Akademi awards was not a good idea just because Nayantara Sahgal had done it.
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Delhi-based Aman Sethi said he too was returning the Sahitya Award he got in 1993 as the “spirit of inquiry is clearly under threat”.Ganesh Devi, a leading author from Gujarat and a tribal rights activist, joined him.
