Sahitya Academi Row: Writers Speak Up

Hindi writer Uday Prakash was the first writer to return his Sahitya Academy Award to protest the killing of M M Kalburgi and since then nearly 30 writers have followed suit. The protest has become a larger issue - a movement against increasing encroachment on our right to freedom of expression as prescribed under the Constitution.

A fortnight after Professor MM Kulburgi was gunned down by two assailants at his residence in Dharwad, close to 30 writers have given back their awards as a mark of protest against Sahitya Akademi’s deafening silence over the issue. Professor Kulburgi was known to challenge orthodox beliefs which didn’t go down too well with right wing groups. His murder came as a shock to fellow writers who believed in Indian democracy's provision for freedom of expression and wanted the Sahitya Akademi to take a stand.

Boom got in touch with Padma Shri Awardee and Bengaluru based author Shashi Deshpande who quit the Sathiya Akademi’s General Council after Kulburgi’s murder.

Deshpande who was a part of the Akademi for more than 15 years says, “I thought the Akademi should have expressed it regret at the manner of Prof Kalburgi’s death, it should have loudly proclaimed its belief in the writers’ freedom of speech and expression. Only they could have done this on behalf of the writers. And it would not have been a political act. The freedom to speak and express oneself is part of our fundamental rights. To reaffirm that right is not a political act”

Click the icon to see Shashi’s letter of concern to :[wp_colorbox_media url="#myid" type="inline" hyperlink="https://s3-ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/myboom/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/27174247/Gmail-Logo.png"]

Another writer who backed Shashi's action and returned his award too is Atamjit Singh. Atamjit Singh was conferred the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2009.

He says “the important trigger for all the writers I believe is the murder of Kulburgi. In a democratic country like ours, one just cannot tolerate such a thing. Just because you don’t agree with someone’s ideologies doesn’t mean that you will kill that person. Our own academy that gave us the award, which is my representative in the country, should have done something. But instead of taking an action they have time and again told us that we are trying to politicize the issue.”

Click the icon to hear what Atamjit Singh has to say to : [wp_colorbox_media url="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DiLiV0kb5YI" type="youtube" hyperlink="https://s3-ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/myboom/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/27164150/Skype-logo-EPS-AI.PNG-13.png"]

But just as there were writers who were giving up their awards or quitting the Sathiya Akademi in protest, there are voices of dissent as well. Hindi writer Mridula Garg who was awarded the Sahitya Award two years ago disagress with Shashi and Atamjit's actions.

She says, “From all the statements that have been made by the ministers or other people, it doesn’t seem that the Government care for writers that much. I don't think that the writers returning their awards will have an impact on the Government policy. But it may, I can’t predict that. My only fear is that it will only weaken the autonomy of the academy”

Click here to have a listen to Mridula, voicing her concerns for the writer’s

community with :[wp_colorbox_media url="#soundcloud" type="inline" hyperlink="https://s3-ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/myboom/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/27164148/audio-transcription.jpg"]