DC Debate: The ‘abrupt halt’ to award wapsi after the Bihar elections

Dissent is not manufactured

Nothing can be as ridiculous as the assumption by the BJP, the RSS, and the Modibhakts that the wave of protests in the form of returning awards by writers, artists, film-makers and scientists was a ‘manufactured dissent’ organised as part of a grand design to have the BJP defeated in the Bihar assembly elections. Such an assumption is not only an insult to the intelligentsia but also reveals a complete lack of intelligence among those who perpetrate such thoughts.

Intellectuals are, by definition, people who hold their own and cannot be herded into a sheep-like behaviour. Does it take a lot to understand that individuals unsupported by organisations can do only as much and no more? What can those of us who find it difficult to sit on fast, or descend on the streets, do to make our voices heard?

Sacrificing something important we have is one thing we can do. In this case, it was a prized possession of awards. It started with one individual, Nayantara Sehgal, and snowballed into a protest movement. Instead of taking note and feeling concerned about the message the returning of awards carried, the ruling BJP is shooting the messenger!

By choosing to advance conspiracy theories around the award-wapsi, the party and its government are losing a chance for course correction.

A question is asked as to why the wave of returning awards has come down after the Bihar results. A wave by definition is something that goes up and comes down. Secondly, the Bihar results have provided a glimmer of hope to those who returned their awards. This hope comes from the Indian electorate that has again shown its maturity to throw out a party that abdicated its responsibility and harped on empty slogans.

If the return of awards was an organised attempt, one would have seen it happening for a longer period; and they would certainly not have had all the names that one sees today.

The conspiracy theory — that so many have returned their awards to see the BJP taste defeat in Bihar — is obviously absurd. The awards were returned at different times and individually, not collectively.

The conspiracy theory would require of the conspirators getting together at some point of time and at one place. There is not a shred of evidence that this has happened. One could argue that all the planning could be done by correspondence. Such an exercise would be massive. There is no evidence of that either. This again shows the desperation of the BJP to establish that nothing is wrong with its style.

I returned the Padma Bhushan, that I received in 1986. I have given the reasons for it in numerous television interviews, press reports, and in my letter to President Pranab Mukherjee. The most important reason is of the ruling party, the BJP, abandoning the road of democracy and embarking on a path that would make the country a Hindu religious autocracy. Bihar is mentioned nowhere. It was not even in my thoughts when I decided to return the award!

Pushpa M. Bhargava, Scientist and founder, Centre of Cellular and Molecular Biology.

Object, don’t return awards

Several ‘intellectuals’ have returned the awards they got in the past for their exemplary work in various fields. Their action was depressing to some other such awardees who opted not to fall in line with them.

The reason the award-returnees cited was the ‘atmosphere of intolerance’ reflected in the murder of writer M.M. Kalaburgi, a Muslim who stored beef in his house in Dadri, and leftist thinker Govind Pansare, allegedly by right-wing activists.

By returning the awards, the intellectuals hope to uphold the tenets of freedom of expression, belief and ideology in this country.

These intellectuals’ indignation appears laudable, but fact is also that they delayed their action. It was not spontaneous, it was not a spur of the moment response. The awards went to them as recognition of their creative genius. They returned the material symbol of the award, not be spirit of it. Sahitya Akademi awards do not, in their essence, mean money, insignia, shawl or a memento. These are just material parts of the award.

The award, above all these, is a mark of recognition, respect and honour showered on a worthy by an institution, the nation, and the people, both individually and collectively. The awardees shared the spirit of the award with others. They won more popularity. What then could they return now?

They returned the symbols of the award and not the spirit. As a form of protest, yes, one can condemn the killings, or object to other actions. Question is, did these worthies return the awards when worse situations arose, like the Godhra killings, the Gujarat riots, the demolition of Babri Masjid, the Nir-bhaya rape and death, the Sunduru massacres, the Karamchedu deaths, and rapes and murders of dalits and adivasis?

Did they react to the Stains burning in his car cuddled up as he was with two innocent children? Did they plead against the threat of death to Salman Rushdie? Never! We, the writers, belong to different religions, castes, regions, languages and political social and economics groups, and we have our own individual agenda and affiliations.

We, as writers, ignored the writings of other groups, humiliated them, ill-treated them, and killed their freedom of expression by the very use of the weapon of silence. We silenced all that we didn’t like. Did we exhibit patience and feel a kind of fraternity with our writers or citizens at any time in history? Did we return our awards when Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Bhindranwale were killed or Sikhs massacred in Delhi?

The action of those who returned their awards touched the boundary line of blackmail and intimidation. It all started with a writer and ended with a scientist for the present. The timing of the whole exercise created both awe and wonder. Also, surprisingly, the returning of awards seems to have stopped all of a sudden. Why? One should analyse this.

Prof Kolakaluri Enoch, Former vice-chancellor of SV University,Tirupati and Padma Awardee

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