CENTRE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGING FRINGE GROUPS

CENTER INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGING FRINGE GROUPS

The Sahitya Akademi must think about every small writer too, not just award winners, said Bhoopal Reddy, the first litterateur from Telangana to return the Sahitya Akademi award. “Respect should be given to all writers, and the statement of the Akademi condemning the murder of M.M. Kalburgi comes too late,” he said.On the other hand, Prof. Katyayani Vidmahe – the second writer from the State to return the award – said the Akademi’s statement is not sufficient. “They have said that the communities need to be more tolerant, but it is not the communities’ problem. The State has to be more tolerant towards them,” she said.In an interview to The Hindu after their discussion on ‘climate of intolerance and role of writers and poets’ here on Sunday, Mr. Reddy and Prof. Katyayani explained why writers in the country need to be respected, not killed, and why the blame points only in one direction.

Dismissing the criticism that the writers have given back their awards for publicity, Mr. Reddy – who won the 2011 Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award – said, “We don’t need publicity. Writers have the guts to show the wrongs in society. They have the methods to help the downtrodden.”Asked if the BJP is to blame for the growing intolerance in the country – especially after party president Amit Shah said that the State governments should be answerable for the Dadri lynching and the murder of rationalists and not the BJP, Prof. Katyayani said the Central government is indirectly encouraging fringe groups. “They (government) are neither coming to the rescue of people in need, nor immediately condemning such incidents,” she said.

“After Narendra Modi came to power, Hinduism is being pushed into the atmosphere of provoking people,” Mr. Reddy said.Criticised for not giving the award back earlier, or for accepting it after incidents like the 1984 anti-Sikh riots or the 2002 Gujarat riots, Prof. Katyayani – who won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award for Telugu in 2013 – said, “People take time to realise the situation. Once they do, they take a decision. The situation is becoming worse by the day. Now we are made to take this decision.”The Sahitya Akademi on October 23 broke its silence over the attacks on rationalists, but urged the writers to take back their awards. However, they both seemed unmoved.“I don’t want to take back the award. It’s a symbol of dissent,” said Prof. Katyayani. “I did not give back the award to take it back again,” Mr. Reddy said.

Prof. John Kurakar