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Sahitya Akademi decries hatred, finally

Sahitya Akademi finally broke its silence and strongly condemned the killing of writers
New Delhi: Yielding to unrelenting protests by writers, the Sahitya Akademi finally broke its silence and strongly condemned the killing of Kannada writer M.M. Kalburgi and others while urging litterateurs to take back awards they have returned even as protests and counter protests were held outside its headquarters.
As writers held a silent march against the Sahitya Akademi, another group of people staged a counter-protest in the national capital on Friday, alleging that the move by authors to return awards was “motivated by their vested interests” and that the literary body should not buckle under “pressure”.
The Akademi took to pacifying the authors because they accused it of not speaking out against the killings of writers and rationalists, besides on incidents like the Dadri lynching and the ink attack on Sudheendra Kulkarni.
At an emergency board meeting to discuss recent developments, the Akademi expressed solidarity with the writers and urged those authors who had returned awards to take them back and appealed to those who had stepped down from various Akademi posts to take back their resignations.
The Akademi is “deeply pained and strongly condemns the murder of Prof. M.M. Kalburgi and the other intellectuals and thinkers. As the only autonomous institution of Indian literature in all its diversities, the Akademi firmly supports the writers’ right to freedom of expression in all the languages and condemns any atrocity against any writer,” it said in a resolution.

Writers who have returned their awards marched in protest ahead of the cultural body’s meeting to discuss the resignation of authors from the Akademi. The Akademi also asked the state and Central governments to take immediate action to bring the culprits to book and ensure the security of writers now and in the future.


Ahead of the meeting several writers and their supporters, sporting black gags and armbands, held a solidarity march here and submitted a memorandum to the Akademi chair.

Meanwhile, a counter-protest — alleging that the move by authors to return awards was “motivated by their vested interests” and urging the literary body not to buckle under pressure — was led by Janmat, with participation by ABVP activists. They, too, submitted a memorandum to the Akademi questioning writers’ motive.
( Source : deccan chronicle/agencies )
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