Protesting against remarks made by union ministers on those who had returned their Sahitya Akademi awards over the last two weeks, noted Hindi writer Kashinath Singh said on Friday that he was giving up the award that he had received from the organisation in 2011 for his novel Rehan Par Raghu.

A resident of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi, the former BHU professor said he was also returning the amount of Rs 1 lakh that he had received along with the Akademi award.

More than 20 writers — most recently Rajasthani poet Nand Bhardwaj and English poet Keki N Daruwalla — have returned their Akademi awards. Another Hindi poet Manmohan, meanwhile, returned the Haryana Sahitya Akademi award along with the prize money of Rs 1 lakh.

The writers were protesting the “silence” of the Akademi and the Government over the killing of Kannada writer M M Kalburgi and the lynching in Dadri of a man over rumours of cow slaughter. Speaking to The Indian Express, Singh said he decided to return the award as he was “annoyed” by the statements made by union ministers on the issue.

“Their statements show that the (Central) government is not concerned by the issues raised by these writers. The statements of these ministers were insulting for the writers,” Singh said.

He added that the Centre’s stand on the Dadri lynching and its “failure to maintain social values like communal harmony, pluralism and secularism” were the other reasons behind him returning the award.

On Wednesday, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had described the return of awards as a “manufactured paper rebellion” against the Government “in the wake of a manufactured crisis”.

Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma had demanded that the “background of these writers” should be looked at.

But Singh alleged that the Central government was unable to resolve social issues and protect democratic rights.

“They are talking about development. What will they develop if society will not exist? A major section of the society, Muslims, are living in fear and is not able to express their problems,” he said.

He also said the Central government should not ignore the Dadri incident and criticised the lack of a breakthrough in the Kalburgi killing.

“The Sahitya Akademi awards are not given by any government. The Akademi gives the award after recognising the works of writers,” said Singh.

He also dismissed allegations that the move to return the awards was politically motivated. “Writers belong to the public and not to any particular political party. This should not be connected with politics,” said Singh.

Meanwhile, poet Daruwalla said that his stand against the Sahitya Akademi should not be construed as an action favouring a political party. “I wish to make it clear that I have no party leanings. I was no lover of the corrupt UPA-2 government. People like (rationalist) Narendra Dabholkar were murdered during the previous dispensation. The landscape that confronts the writer today is bleak. People will die in our country for eating beef, or pork, perhaps one sad day for eating mutter paneer — a dish invented by us home-grown Aryans who never came across the mountains,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jnanpith winner and Hindi poet Kunwar Narain has joined those who have hit out at the Akademi and the Central government on the issue of freedom of speech.

“The increasing communalism and insecurity in the country is a matter of concern. The negative pressure on the freedom of speech is condemnable. It is the responsibility of the government to create such an atmosphere that people feel free to express themselves,” Kunwar Narain said in a statement sent to The Indian Express.

(With inputs from ENS/Delhi)

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