New Delhi: The returning of awards given by the government has divided the writers community across India. It seems to have further polarised the already polarised literary atmosphere. A delegation led by noted writers Geetha Hariharan and Keki N Daruwalla reached the Kendra Sahitya Academy building in New Delhi on Friday morning demanding that the Academy must stand by the writers who have been returning the awards in protest against the rising level of intolerance across India. Speaking to media the delegation of writers questioned the silence of Academy over the killing of Kannada scholar MM Kalaburgi, lynching of a person over beef eating in Dadri and some other similar incidents.
In the last two months, several writers of national and international repute have spoken out against what they call systematic muzzling of voices of dissent by the government and government backed people. A famous writer like Vikram Seth has also backed these writers.
At the same time, a section of the writers are opposing the returning of awards. They allege that these writers are hypocrites who were quiet during the previous Congress regime. They have also questioned Vikram Seth for accepting an award from former Union minister Jagdish Tytler who is accused of leading a mob during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Union Finance and Information & Broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley wrote a blog describing the protest as a manufactured dissent. His blog attracted sharp criticism from the writers who have been supporting returning of the awards.
Those who are opposing the returning of awards are describing it as a selective outrage. Leading the attack, BJP leader Dr. Subramanian Swamy said that it is an artificial protest which will not affect the BJP led Central government. According to ‘Times of India’ Swamy said “by giving away Sahitya Akademi awards, the writers are dishonouring the UPA government. It was under the rule of the UPA that they got these awards and they are now returning it to the BJP. It does not make any sense. Many of those who have returned the Sahitya Akademi awards were also not deserving. The BJP is not going to give them any awards in future."
The returning of awards has led to a war of words in the social media. Twitter and Facebook are full of posts for and against returning awards given by the government funded academies. It has added more fuel to the fire. Chairman of a Central Government funded national academy who spoke to IBNLIVE on the condition of anonymity said “As Chairman of a Central government funded academy I oppose returning of awards. These awards are not decided by the government. All Academies are autonomous. A committee comprising the eminent writers or artists decide who should get which award. By returning the awards these writers and others are actually insulting the Academies and the jury. If Academies are government funded, most other things in India are also government funded. Will these people return their University Degrees because they are also funded by the government?”.
Another noted theatre person who is also in New Delhi to receive the Central Sangeet Natak Academy award for 2015 echoed his sentiments. He said, “Intellectuals must oppose in a civilised manner. They can talk, they can write and they can hold Dharnas. What is the point in returning awards? It serves no purpose”.
Noted playwright and poet Dr HS Shivaprakash, who has got both Central Sangeet Natak Academy Award and Kendra Sahitya Academy Award for his contribution to the field of art and literature has also questioned the rationale behind returning awards. He has argued that these people must create awareness about the dangers free speech is facing. Mere tokenism like returning awards is futile, he said.
Defending their decision to return awards noted writers like Shashi Deshpande, Nayantara Sehgal and others have said that the space for free thinking in India rapidly shrinking and the institutions like Central Sahitya Academy have failed to stand by the writers who are opposed to the radical elements. They have also slammed the Centre for calling their protest a manufactured dissent.
The ongoing protest is unlikely to end soon. Because the writers and artists have been polarised on ideological lines. Both sides don’t want to back-off.
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