I/II. http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/10/07/nayantara-sahgal_n_8255032.html
Why Nayantara Sahgal Is Returning Her Sahitya Akademi Award After 29 Years HuffPost India | By Adrija Bose Email Posted: 07/10/2015 10:24 IST Updated: 1 hour ago Twenty nine years after she received the Sahitya Akademi Award, renowned author Nayantara Sahgal returned it to the government to protest against rising religious intolerance and curbs on people's right to dissent. "The ruling ideology today is a fascist ideology and that is what is worrying me now. We did not have a fascist government until now... I am doing whatever I believe in," Sahgal, who is Jawaharlal Nehru's niece, said in a statement. Sahgal, upset over the brutal killing of a Muslim man in Dadri of Uttar Pradesh over suspicion that he killed and ate a cow, said she was against “vicious assault” on “India’s culture of diversity and debate”. Sahgal had received the Sahitya Akademi award in 1986 for her English novel 'Rich Like Us (1985)'. Citing various incidents of killings of writers and rationalists including MM Kalburgi and Govind Pansare, the 88-year-old alleged, "rationalists who question superstition, anyone who questions any aspect of the ugly and dangerous distortion of Hinduism known as Hindutva -- whether in the intellectual or artistic sphere, or whether in terms of food habits and lifestyle -- are being marginalised, persecuted, or murdered." The author also blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his silence. "In all these cases, justice drags its feet. The Prime Minister remains silent about this reign of terror. We must assume he dare not alienate evil-doers who support his ideology," she wrote. Sahgal is not the first to return the Sahitya Award. Earlier, Ashok Vajpeyi, former chairperson of the Lalit Kala Akademi, also returned his award to protest the murder of Kalburgi. In a Facebook post, Vajpeyi wrote, "This is not the moment to be silent and find a safe corner to hide in. Otherwise, these dangers will continue to rise." When the announcement came, many took to Twitter to asking Sahgal why she didn't return the award during the other riots, including the Sikh riots. The Bad Doctor @doctoratlarge Nayantara Sahgal returns her award saying govt persecutes minorities Funny,considering she took the award from a govt that did Sikh genocide 9:18 PM - 6 Oct 2015 196 196 Retweets 86 86 favorites IndiaSpeaks @IndiaSpeaksPR Nayantara Sehgal is right.Intolerance is rising.Many unable to tolerate a tea-seller as the most powerful man in India instead of a Gandhi 6:50 PM - 6 Oct 2015 327 327 Retweets 153 153 favorites Aditya Raj Kaul @AdityaRajKaul Did Nayantara Sehgal resign after Kashmiri Pandits were thrown out of Kashmir in 1990? Wasn't cultural diversity then wiped out of India? 6:19 PM - 6 Oct 2015 631 631 Retweets 237 237 favorites Rishi Bagree @rishibagree Nayantara Sahgal protested against Emergency only after her appointment as ambassador to Italy was cancelled https://twitter.com/GitaSahgal/status/651492378835030016 … 9:20 AM - 7 Oct 2015 91 91 Retweets 41 41 favorites Subhasis @sray1104 Nayantara Sehgal, hw much did u pay for this award,generally Gandhi-Nehru family pay money for such awards!! 9:46 AM - 7 Oct 2015 Retweets favorites Sumit De @smtd0824 Add Nayantara Sahgal to this list of those who declared that they will leave India if #Modi becomes PM. 9:45 AM - 7 Oct 2015 Retweets favorites But, many supported her decision too: Rajdeep Sardesai ✔ @sardesairajdeep For those with short memories, Nayantara Sehgal was among the first to publicly protest against Indira and the Emergency. 9:54 PM - 6 Oct 2015 295 295 Retweets 199 199 favorites Gita Sahgal @GitaSahgal Hindutva trolls note that Nayantara Sahgal protested against censorship during the Emergency;founded the PUCL which investigated 1984 riots. 1:51 AM - 7 Oct 2015 62 62 Retweets 27 27 favorites Earlier, Hindi writer Uday Prakash had also returned his Sahitya Akademi award. Below is the full-text of Sahgal's statement as published on indianculturalforum.in. In a recent lecture, India’s Vice-President, Dr. Hamid Ansari, found it necessary to remind us that India’s Constitution promises all Indians “liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship.”The right to dissent is an integral part of this Constitutional guarantee. He found it necessary to do so because India’s culture of diversity and debate is now under vicious assault. Rationalists who question superstition, anyone who questions any aspect of the ugly and dangerous distortion of Hinduism known as Hindutva – whether in the intellectual or artistic sphere, or whether in terms of food habits and lifestyle – are being marginalised, persecuted, or murdered. A distinguished Kannada writer and Sahitya Akademi Award winner, M.M. Kalburgi, and two Maharashtrians, Narendra Dhabolkar and Govind Pansare, both anti-superstition activists, have all been killed by gun-toting motor-cyclists. Other dissenters have been warned they are next in line. Most recently, a village blacksmith, Mohammed Akhtaq, was dragged out of his home in Bisara village outside Delhi, and brutally lynched, on the supposed suspicion that beef was cooked in his home. In all these cases, justice drags its feet. The Prime Minister remains silent about this reign of terror. We must assume he dare not alienate evil-doers who support his ideology. It is a matter of sorrow that the Sahitya Akademi remains silent. The Akademis were set up as guardians of the creative imagination, and promoters of its finest products in art and literature, music and theatre. In protest against Kalburgi’s murder, a Hindi writer, Uday Prakash, has returned his Sahitya Akademi Award. Six Kannada writers have returned their Awards to the Kannada Sahitya Parishat. In memory of the Indians who have been murdered, in support of all Indians who uphold the right to dissent, and of all dissenters who now live in fear and uncertainty, I am returning my Sahitya Akademi Award. Signed: Nayantara Sahgal, Dehra Dun, 6 October, 2015 II. http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/after-nayantara-sahgal-poet-ashok-vajpeyi-returns-award-takes-on-pm-1229198 After Nayantara Sahgal, Poet Ashok Vajpeyi Returns Award, Takes on PM All India | Edited by Deepshikha Ghosh | Updated: October 07, 2015 11:44 IST Poet Ashok Vajpeyi has returned his Sahitya Akademi award NEW DELHI: After writer Nayantara Sahgal returned her Sahitya Akademi award protesting against what she called a "vicious assault" on India's diversity and debate, poet Ashok Vajpeyi has also given up the prestigious literary honour. "It is high time that writers take a stand," Mr Vajpeyi, a former chairperson of the Lalit Kala Akademi, said. Nayantara Sahgal, the 88-year-old niece of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, recorded her protest against the government in a scathing statement titled "Unmaking of India". In it, she refers to the recent mob killing of a Muslim man over rumours that he had eaten beef, and also the killings of rationalists MM Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare. Earlier, Hindi writer Uday Prakash had returned the award. Ashok Vajpeyi said it was rare for a senior English writer like Nayantara Sahgal to take such a strong stand, and it needed support from the writing community. "The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) keeps quiet. He is an eloquent Prime Minister who addresses lakhs of people, but here writers are being murdered, innocent people are being killed, his ministers are making objectionable statements...Why doesn't he shut them up?" he told NDTV. "Why doesn't he tell the nation and the writing and creating community that the pluralism of this community will be defended at every cost? Although the government makes announcements that this would not be tolerated, that would not be tolerated ...but tolerance is there. How is it that all this has erupted now?" Mr Vajpeyi also expressed disappointed at the silence of Sahitya Akademi, the national academy of letters comprising writers, and said it "failed to rise to the occasion and respect its autonomy." Nayantara Sahgal had also questioned PM Modi's silence. "He has uttered no word of condemnation at all at these incidents. The whole country wishes the Prime Minister to make a statement because the situation is getting more and more serious," Ms Sahgal said. "Under Modi we are going backwards, regressing, narrowing down to Hindutva...there is rising intolerance and lots of Indians are living in fear," she commented. Story First Published: October 07, 2015 11:26 IST -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
