Digvijaya brands Mahesh Sharma’s comment as ‘arrogance personified’

Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma on Tuesday said that he has been misquoted by a leading English daily over his opinion on the ongoing crisis in the Sahitya Akademi and clarified that he was only against the “platform” which the writers had chosen to show their protest. He recently struck back, saying, “If they say they are unable to write, let them first stop writing”. How can I stop anybody from expressing his views. Celebrated short story writer and novelist Akhtar Mohiuddin, who was recognised by the Akademi for his short story collection Sat Sangar, returned his Sahitya Akademi award in 1984 to protest the hanging of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Muhammad Maqbool Bhat in Tihar jail. Nobody is saying that anyone’s murder is justified. This is a law and order problem. We are with them in condemning the murders – be it of writers like M M Kalburgi or the killing at Dadri.

“Our request is that this is not a subject on which they should resign”. The Akademi, which has given them awards is an institution of authors and they have been given the award for their work.

Ms Sen was given the Swarnajayanti Special Sahitya Akademi Young Writers award in 2004.

Avoiding an exchange of barbs, Sharma said, “It is his culture”.

The latest to join the bandwagon is eminent Punjabi writer and Padma Shri victor Dalip Kaur Tiwana, who today said she had made a decision to return her award protesting against “recurrent atrocities” on Muslims in the country.

Ahmed expressed shock at Modi’s silence and said “it is unthinkable the Prime Minister keeps silent when our country is witnessing such churn”.

Alarming times indeed. If one were to closely examine the statements by the authors, a few expressions stand out – “there is some sort of curb on what one wants to write and speak”, “central government not performing its duty” and ‘minorities feel their future is bleak.’ Notwithstanding the ugly developments, including the Shiv Sena’s antics, is this perception of India being unsafe true? Reacting to these comments, Congress spokesperson P L Punia described it as a manifestation of the typical Modi style of working.

They have found support from writer Salman Rushdie.