Telugu writer Bhoopal Reddy to return Sahitya Akademi award

PEN worldwide is a leading global body of writers and artists across the world. Rather than reining in the mobs, people like the Union Minister of Culture, Mahesh Sharma, and other luminaries of the Bharatiya Janata Party have set new standards for insensitivity and lack of decency.

“What binds them is their deep moorings in secular and democratic values”.

“It is ridiculous to say that the authors are motivated by political parties”.

However, to express our concern in one solid voice and to demand from Sahitya Akademi the official condemnation of the threats to our fundamental rights is more imperative at this juncture. This in itself throws light on the person’s concept of country’s littérateur by way of making such laughable statements without being authentic and truthful. So to remain true to the spirit of Pash’s liberating humanist poetry, I join with my fellow writers in returning this prize money and honour given to me by Sahitya Akademi in the form of National Translation Prize for the year of 2001. 1004 writers including Poets, Translators have achieved the award till 2014. It is therefore advisable for Swamy that before coming in public he must do a few home work and not make a fool of himself. They, however, said that they are not returning their awards as of now. One of them is Chetan Bhagat. “The authors’ decision have not been taken seriously”, the Varanasi based writer, who won the 2011 award for his fiction “Rehan Par Raghu”, said. “I vow not to accept any government award in future, from whatever government is in power”, he said. The Sahitya Akademi award is something bestowed by the Akademi, and possibly, this becomes more of a criticism of the institution. Award is a recognition of intellectual, literary, creative or academic merits. As far Chetan Bhagat is concerned, he is a bazaru writer.

Bucking the trend, well-known Hindi author Professor Namwar Singh on Saturday questioned literary icons over returning their Sahitya Akademi awards in protest of rising intolerance in the country. Their actions are against the Akademi’s stance on the tragic incidents in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Dadri. Litterateurs like Kalburgi, Dabholkar and Pansare were killed. They contended that free speech and writing was being suppressed. “Despite this fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has maintained a silence over the matter”, Singh said in an interaction with journalists at his residence in Sunderpur here.