Celeb writers quit akademi in protest

Thiruvananthapuram: A section of Kerala writers  has joined the growing nationwide protest  against the current atmosphere of intolerance and violence against intellectuals who have opposed the Hinduatwa agenda of the BJP-led government. 

They include  Sachithanandan,  K.S. Ravikumar,  P.K. Parakadavu, C.R. Prasad, Anand  and Sara Joseph.

Poet  Sachithanandan  resigned from both the general council and executive council of the Kendra Sahitya Akademi.  K.S. Ravikumar, critic and  head of the Malayalam department of Sanskrit University, and   P.K. Parakadavu, editor of Madhayam weekly,  quit the general council. 

Kerala University Malayalam professor and critic C.R. Prasad resigned from the Malayalam advisory committee of the akademi.

Aam Aadmi Party leader, writer and activist Sara Joseph  on Saturday decided to return  the prestigious akademi award she had won in 2003 for her novel Aalahayude Penmakkal  (Daughters of God the Father).

Urdu novelist Rahman Abbas  announced that he would return the Maharashtra State Urdu Sahitya Academi award.

“After the Dadri lynching, the Urdu writing community has been quite unhappy. Therefore, I decided to return the award. There are some other Urdu writers who also want to join the protest. It is high time we stood up to the injustice surrounding us," Abbas said  in Mumbai.

Abbas had in 2011 won the award for his third novel Khuda Ke Saaye Mein Aankh Micholi (Hide-and Seek in the Shadow of God).

Earlier this week, eminent writer Nayantara Sahgal and former Lalit Kala Akademi chairman Ashok Vajpeyi had returned their Sahitya Akademi awards to protest against the  “assault on right to freedom”  and  the “growing intolerance” in the country.

Noted Hindi writer Uday Prakash was the first to return his Sahitya Akademi award to protest the killing of Kannada writer and rationalist  M.M. Kalburgi in Dharwad  by rightwing Hindu groups.

Novelist Anand, who wanted a more creative protest against  the silencing of the cultural world,  wrote to the akademi to make a public stand on the issue.

Reacting to the decision of the writers to resign, akademi president V.P. Tiwari said that though he approved  of  the sentiments of the writers, he did not support their decision to resign.

The academy executive council will discuss the issues raised by them in December, Mr Tiwari said.

Sachithanandan  said in his resignation letter that he had sent  a letter to Mr Tiwari with the draft of a resolution expressing concern at the  murder of M.M. Kalburgi. 

He was a rare scholar who edited several  volumes of the Vachana literature in Kannada and an independent mind that refused to tolerate bigotry of any kind.   

However,    Sachithanandan  said he did not even receive a reply from the akademi, let alone an active response.

He said  the akademi had  failed in its duty to stand with the writers and to uphold the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution  that seems to be getting violated  in the country daily.

Sara Joseph  told mediapersons in Thrissur  that her dream of an independent India had been shattered.

“We do not have freedom in this country to speak or write what we think. We can’t even eat what we want. The silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Dadri incident in which a man was lynched for allegedly storing beef in his house is alarming. The central government is creating a culture of terror worse than during the  Emergency,” she said.

Sara will courier the award sculpture, Rs 50,000  cash prize and citation to the academi.