Tribune Editorial - Return of awards: Writers stand up for right to dissent
Writer Nayantara Sahgal has returned the Sahitya Akademi
Award she won in 1986 for her novel “Rich Like Us” to protest against the increasing
attacks on the right to dissent, which she says are “unmaking India.” Hindi
poet Ashok Vajpeyi has followed suit, returning a similar honour on similar
grounds. Earlier, Hindi writer Uday Prakash and six Kannada writers had
returned their literary awards. Writers have voiced their protest in the past
too. After Operation Blustar, Khushwant Singh surrendered his Padma Shri award.
Nayantara Sahgal had protested against the Emergency too. While returning the
award on Tuesday, she said this was “in support of all Indians who uphold the
right to dissent, and of all dissenters who now live in fear and uncertainty”.
Even though most artists and writers would claim to be
apolitical, art does not take place in a vacuum. All good art is political, and
the return of an award makes a strong political statement. As Toni Morrison
puts it, “The ones who try hard not to be political are political by saying,
‘we love the status quo.’” The present practice of returning awards has
been triggered by the killings of writers and rationalists in Maharashtra and
Karnataka, including those of MM Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind
Pansare. The latest victim of a growing culture of intolerance is Mohammad
Akhlaq, who was lynched recently by an organised mob on the suspicion of eating
beef. Amidst all this the studied silence of Prime Minister Modi has only added
to the prevailing mood of disenchantment.
The inaction or tacit support of the political leadership
has emboldened fundamentalists and parties like the Shiv Sena, which has now
created another controversy by demanding the cancellation of a proposed concert
by Ghulam Ali. Every such demand diminishes the plurality of India. The
courageous gesture of returning awards sends a strong message to the
government. Critics have panned Nayantara Sahgal, Jawaharlal Nehru’s niece, for
what they have called “selective outrage”, but what she, Ashok Vajpei and
others have done is an act of bravery —that too at a time when it is convenient
to remain silent.
See video:
Also see
Nayantara Sahgal's interview to The Citizen from Dehradun