After poet K Satchidanandan resigned from all the positions he held in the Kendra Sahitya Akademi protesting its silence on the murder of MM Kalburgi, Malayalam novelist, social activist and feminist Sara Joseph announced her decision to return the Akademi Award she had won in 2003 in protest against the “rising tide of intolerance in the country” as seen in the case of the Dadri killing over the beef controversy.
Several other Kerala writers also have decided to either return their awards to the Akademi like Nayantara Sahgal and Ashok Vajpeyi did or to quit the posts they are holding in the body like Satchidanandan has done to protest against the Akademi’s alleged refusal to view the Kalburgi murder seriously and “the agenda of the BJP-led NDA regime in the Centre”.
Editor and story writer PK Parakkadavu said he would give up his membership in the general council of the Akademi protesting the “invisible Emergency existing in the country”.
“We are living in an atmosphere of fear: Fear to eat, fear to love, fear to write, fear to talk... Is this democracyIJ” Sara asked while announcing her decision to return the Akademi award. “Writers are being murdered. People are being killed just for eating food,” she said referring to murder of Kalburgi and others and the Dadri lynching.
“During his foreign visits, Narendra Modi speaks eloquently about India’s culture and achievements. Will he admit that he is representing a country where people don’t have the right to eat the food of their choiceIJ I feel it is the duty of writers to protest against such tendencies,” Sara, who had contested the 2014 lok Sabha election as an AAP candidate, said.
Satchidanandan, former Akademi secretary and former editor of the journal, Indian literature, said that he had resigned from all the posts he held in the Akademi including the membership of its general council and executive board in protest against its refusal to properly condemn the murder of Kalburgi.