New Delhi: In a significant development, eminent author Nayantara Sehgal, niece of India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru, on Tuesday returned the Sahitya Akademi award in protest against the “increasing intolerance towards the right to dissent” in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” over this “reign of terror”.
Ms Sehgal, who got a Sahitya Akademi award in 1986 for her English novel Rich Like Us, said: “The ruling ideology today is a fascist ideology... That’s what is worrying me now. We didn’t have a fascist government until now... I am doing whatever I believe in.”
Citing the killing of writers and rationalists like M.M. Kalburgi and Govind Pansare, she said India was “going backwards” under the Modi government and “rejecting our great idea of cultural diversity and debate”.
Referring to the recent Dadri lynching incident, she said, “Rationalists who question superstition are being marginalised, persecuted, or murdered.” The 88-year-old writer added, “The Prime Minister remains silent about this reign of terror. It is a matter of sorrow that the Sahitya Akademi remains silent...
She further said that “Modi is a politician who knows how to speak. He has given long speeches. He should be responsible for (what is happening) in the country.”
