Sahitya Academy awardee and eminent city-based Urdu poet / author Munawwar Rana disassociated himself from those returning the award to the Akademi. Rana’s ‘Shahdaba’ is among the eight books of poetry which was conferred the Sahitya Akademi Award (National Academy of letters).
“Returning of awards would serve no purpose. `Award lautana bahut mamuli baat hai (returning award is a very simple act). I am not keeping good health. Take me to Delhi and let’s sit on an indefinite hunger strike. Either the country will be reformed or we will fade away,’’ said Rana while talking to The Pioneer in lucknow on Wednesday.
Asking for effective action against the rise of regressive forces in the country, Rana hummed one of his favourite couplets - “Chalo miljul kar watan par jaan dete hain, bahut asaan hai kamre mein vande matram kehna ( lets together sacrifice our life for the country, it’s easy to recite Vande Matram within the four walls of a room)
“I condemn the incidents of caste, creed, gender and religion- related violence in the country. Those who have returned the award or are in the process of doing so, must have done this 50 years ago as India has a long history of injustice and exploitation against the poor and deprived sections of society,” said the poet.
“Incidents of violence have occurred in all previous regimes in the last five decades or more. Noted leftist writer Safdar Hashmi was killed in Ghaziabad during the Congress regime at Center in 1987. What is happening is not new but the rise of communalism in the country is alarming. It is eating into our vitals of our society,’’ said Rana.
“Communalism has shaken the very foundation of the Republic of India. On one hand we are building `smart cities’, on the other, the nation is heading towards `Jungle raj’. In the name of `love Jihad’ and `Ghar Wapsi’ – Jungle mein chowki ban Rahi hai. ( the country is turning into a jungle and divisive outposts are being created across the nation),’’ opined the litterateur in his own philosophical manner and added that such kind of hate business can never have any place in the land of Rama.
Asked whether returning of awards tantamount to questioning the legitimacy of government of the day, Rana said, “Prima facie, it’s against the government of the day. If the trend continues then it will be interpreted as questioning the legitimacy of the nation state as the awards are conferred by the state.”
The SP government had appointed Rana as vice-chairman of UP Urdu academy in 2013 but he chose to resign within two months. He explained, “I could not find a place for myself in the highly politicized atmosphere of the Academy. I am a writer and could not cope with the politics so I resigned.’’