Akademi awards row: Govt tacitly enabling attack on writers, says Amitav Ghosh
The Sahitya Akademi winning author accused the Akademi of 'dereliction of duty'
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-10-15 16:27 GMT
New Delhi: Author Amitav Ghosh has hit out at the Indian govt of “tacitly enabling attacks (on writers)” and accused the Sahitya Akademi of “dereliction of duty” for failing to lodge a protest on the issue of rising intolerance in the country.
In an interview to The Indian Express, Ghosh said, “I very much appreciate the courage and commitment of the writers who have returned their awards in protest against the Sahitya Akademi’s silence in regard to the recent attacks on writers. There can be no doubt that the present government is tacitly enabling these attacks by failing to take punitive and preventive action. In refusing to protest, the Sahitya Akademi is shamefully in dereliction of its duties.”
A recipient of the prestigious award himself, Ghosh said that he admired the courage of the writers who returned their Akademi awards to protest against the against the spread of "communal poison" and "rising intolerance" in the country. But Ghosh added that he has no intention of returning his award as it would “amount to a repudiation of the institution’s history”.
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Amitav however said that writers should be directing their outrage at the current leadership of the Akademi instead of targeting the institution itself. He said that previous office bearers of the organisation would have 'vigourously protested' the attacks that have been made on writers and rationalists in the country.
At least 29 authors including Nayantara Sahgal and Ashok Vajpeyi have decided to return their Akademi awards and five writers have stepped down from official positions of the literary body to protest against the Akademi's silence on the murder of M M Kalburgi and also against incidents of rising intolerance like the brutal Dadri lynching.