I/II. http://scroll.in/article/764395/what-the-latest-sahitya-akademi-resolution-tells-us-about-the-right-to-dissent
OPINION What the latest Sahitya Akademi resolution tells us about the right to dissent The writers remind us that the task of dissenting is never done. Rohit Chopra · Today · 08:30 am For a country that never fails to remind itself and the world that it is the world’s largest democracy, we seem to be singularly lacking in one of the qualities essential to a truly democratic society: an appreciation of the principle of dissent. In recent times, nowhere has this lack been more obviously visible than in the curious backlash against the artistes who have surrendered their Sahitya Akademi awards. Now numbering close to 40, the artistes who have returned awards write and perform in a number of Indian languages, and include in their distinguished ranks Nayantara Sahgal, GN Devy, Keki Daruwalla, and Krishna Sobti. Others, such as Shashi Deshpande have resigned from positions in the Akademi. As Ramachandra Guha pointed out in a column recently, these writers are not necessarily aligned with any particular political party. A host of other Indian writers, thinkers, and intellectuals, such as Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth, have strongly supported the right of the artistes to signal their dissent through their act. Three related protests The returning of the awards by the writers signals three related acts of protest. First, against rising intolerance in the country, seen, for example, in the chilling murder of Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi and in brutal attacks on religious minorities. Second, against the Sahitya Akademi for refusing to take a strong stand on the Kalburgi assassination and the general climate of hostility against writers in the present moment. And, third, against the Indian government for its inaction and silence on both these counts. The act has triggered angry denunciations by politicians in the government, accusations by right-wing columnists of a selective “hatred” of the Modi government, mumblings about the double standards of the writers by disgruntled celebrities such as Anupam Kher, and incoherent tweets by Censor Board member Ashok Pandit. The particular substantive objections to the writers notwithstanding, the principle of dissent and the right of the writers to dissent has completely been set aside in each of these objections. The same erasure can also be seen in the flood of tweets by the Indian right-wing on Twitter. The ease with which the fundamental right of dissent – which belongs not just to Indian writers but to all Indian citizens – is ignored and deemed irrelevant reveals something fundamental about the nature of the social context in which the protests are occurring. Knowing their place It is a reflection of the deep-seated social conservatism of Indian society, expressed as a contract, tacit or explicit, that every person should know their place in the great chain of Indian being. Writers, in this Indian scheme of things are meant to write and tell stories, not to protest. Each writer is meant to illuminate his or her little corner of the world, based on his or her experience, in his or her chosen language, for his or her audience. As long as they don’t offend the religious sensibilities of their own or other communities or speak up against the nation. This sentiment is perfectly summed up in the words of Bharatiya Janata Party politician Vijay Goel: “Writers should be concerned with their pen only, otherwise giving awards would be stopped.” Differential privileges Indian politicians, in contrast, have the licence to say the most outrageous things in the name of politics, because, well, this is what they do, what we expect, and endlessly put up with. We forgive the most offensive statements by politicians, the ugly entitlements of Very Important People culture, and allegations of crimes – heck, we even forgive pogroms. The principle of differential privilege shapes any number of assumptions about which kind of Indian is entitled to exactly what. Thus Indian hearts, regardless of where their political sympathies lie, bleed when a film star might have to serve time for involvement in a crime leading to deaths but the same hearts remain indifferent to the ordinary undertrial languishing in jail on the flimsiest of charges without the possibility of bail. It is considered perfectly legitimate for a banker to travel first class to India on the Indian government’s tab, but woe betide Amartya Sen if he at 81 does not want to suffer the abominations of economy class air travel on a flight from the United States to India. It is why Indians who talk a good game about caste, class, and religious equality see no contradiction between holding forth about the evils of apartheid South Africa without once asking the "drivers" and "servants" working for them to sit on their living room sofas. The greatest transgression of the writers, then, has been to exceed their brief as Indians, to speak out of turn. This explains the curious paradox, pointed out by Mitali Saran, of any numbers of Indians raging against unpatriotic writers even as they insist simultaneously on the irrelevance of the same ungrateful bunch. Perceived disrespect With the afterglow of the Modi honeymoon fading away, the heresy committed by the writers converges with a perceived disrespect for India, with India itself deemed indistinguishable from the larger-than-life, well-coutured, globe-trotting personality of Modi. If India was Indira in the context of the non-aligned world, on the global stage India is Modi, all tricolour and Facebook, both pizza and pizzazz, at once technology and tradition. In the conservative Indian imagination, the writers returning awards are thus guilty not just of behaving badly at home but of throwing tantrums in public too. We are now in the familiar Indian territory of besmirching honour and naak katwa di, of betraying family, community, religion, or nation. This, of course, is democratically applied across the board in India, from the child who does not clear some competitive exam to the son or daughter who chooses their own life partner, from the H1B holder who gets laid off in the US to the middle-aged vegetarian man who gets caught out for eating a mutton roll at a roadside stall. We should thank the writers all the more then. In addition to their courageous gesture of protesting the attacks on minorities and writers, and the sloth of a cynical government, they remind us there is much, much more we need to protest about. And that the task of dissenting is never done. In the day since I initially wrote this article, the Akademi has finally responded to the protests. In a clear statement it has denounced the violence against writers and affirmed its commitment to free speech, also requesting the writers to take back their awards. For whatever it is worth, it has also recognised that the right to disagree and dissent, whatever its object, is inherently precious to a democracy. II. http://scroll.in/article/764401/take-back-awards-sahitya-akademi-urges-dissenting-writers FREE EXPRESSION Take back awards, Sahitya Akademi urges dissenting writers The full text of the statement by the Akademi's executive board criticising attacks on writers and reiterating its commitment to free speech. Scroll Staff · Yesterday · 06:41 pm At its eagerly awaited meeting on Friday, the executive board of the Sahitya Akademi strongly condemned the murder of Kannada writer MM Kalburgi on August 30 and affirmed the right to free expression in India. In a statement issued by president Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari and vice president Chandrashekhar Kambar, the committee asked the Central and state governments to bring to book the culprits responsible for the murders of Kalburgi and other intellectuals, and to ensure the security of writers. So far, more than 35 writers across the country, representing several linguistic groups, have returned their Sahitya Akademi awards in recent weeks to protest what they perceive as the rising tide of intolerance and the shrinking space for free expression. More writers, notably Vikram Seth and Anita Desai, had threatened to return their national awards unless the autonomous Akademi issued a firm statement criticising the attacks on writers. In its statement, the Akademi also asked dissenting writers to take back their awards. Here is the full text of the statement. "The Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi, at its special meeting on 23rd October 2015, is deeply pained and strongly condemns the murder of Prof MM Kalburgi and the other intellectuals and thinkers. As the only autonomous institution of Indian Literature in all its diversities, the Akademi firmly supports the writers’ right to freedom of expression in all the languages of India and condemns any atrocity against any writer anywhere in the country in the strongest of words and asks Governments at the center and in the States to take immediate action to bring the culprits to book and to ensure the security of writers now and in the future. The spirit of plurality that Indian culture embodies has been a much sought after ideal for the rest of the world. This is what should be protected. Sahitya Akademi demands that Center and States maintain the ambience of peaceful coexistence in the societies and it urges various communities of our society to put aside the differences on the grounds of caste, religion, region and ideologies. Sahitya Akademi is an organisation of writers for writers, an institution guided solely by writers. All its decisions including those on the awards are made only by the writers. In this context, we request the authors who returned awards or have dissociated themselves with the Akademi to reconsider their decisions. Akademi’s Executive Board believes that the cooperation of writers should strengthen the autonomy of the Akademi which has been held high in the 61 years of its history. This meeting of Executive Board notes that upon the assassination of Prof. Kalburgi, the President of the Akademi had telephonically requested the Vice-President to contact Prof. Kalburgi’s family and to convey the sense of pain and outrage felt by the Akademi. Within hours of the murder of Prof. M.M. Kalburgi, the Vice-President, the Convener of Kannada Advisory Board and some eminent Kannada writers strongly condemned the dastardly murder at a public meeting. Within days, they accompanied the family members of Prof. Kalburgi to meet the Chief Minister of Karnataka to ask for immediate investigation into the crime and protection for the family. The Akademi held a special public condolence meeting on 30th September 2015 at Bangalore in honour of Prof. M.M. Kalburgi where a large number of eminent writers condemned the assassination and paid their tribute to him. In following weeks, many other language Conveners issued, on behalf of the Akademi, public statements condemning the incident and demanding justice. In Srinagar, the Convener of Kashmiri Advisory Board along with Conveners of six languages publicly condemned the murder. In Hyderabad, Telugu writers, at the behest of the Convener of Telugu language, issued a public statement of strong condemnation of the assassination. ***The Executive Board reconfirms this condemnation of the assassination of Prof. Kalburgi and records its own sense of pain and outrage at the atrocities against and the murders of authors in the past. It also condemns the violence against fellow citizens from different walks of life.*** [Emphasis added.] The Executive Board unanimously endorses the diligent and vigilant leadership provided by the President to keep the dignity of the Akademi intact and uphold the tradition and legacy of the Akademi." -- 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]. 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