Renowned author and poet Vikram Seth has said that if the Sahitya Akademi continues to be “mealy- mouthed” on the issue of freedom of speech raised by several writers , he will seriously consider returning the award the institution gave him for The Golden Gate.

“The akademi is a great institution founded by Pandit Nehru, Radhakrishnan, littérateurs, statesmen and scholars. But it hasn’t covered itself with glory when you consider what happened to Kalburgi, Pansare and so on. There have been no expressions other than mealy-mouthed generalizations about how sad it all is -- nothing about protection of free speech, no indignation,” he said in a programme on NDTV.

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Seth said he greatly admires the courage of those who have returned their awards. But he wants to see how the October 23 meet of the Akademi goes before he takes a decision on his own award. “I would like to see what emerges other than generalizations. But after the meeting all bets are off,” he said.