By Tarunkumar G. Singhal | Raman Jokhakar Chartered Accountants
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A rising tide of writers are returning their Sahitya a kademi awards in protest against growing intolerance and restricted space for freedom of choice in the country, since nda governments came to power at the Centre in 2014 and subsequently in many states. Culture is an early warning sign, and BJP-led governments must take note of growing signs of disquiet. e ven as people are lynched on suspicion of consuming beef, three rationalists have been murdered in succession in m aharashtra and Karnataka – extremely un- i ndian acts that are being laid at the door of h indu extremists. they are usually followed by a stream of statements from high-ranking BJP leaders, which appear to condone heinous crimes and create a culture of impunity around them by trotting out the time-worn cliché of ‘hurt sentiments’.
If writers and intellectuals were to secede, it would seriously diminish i ndian soft power. But more importantly, they broach broader concerns. Poor people in the countryside are dependent on the cattle trade. Curtailing this due to the hysteria over beef will see a drop in their living standards at a time when the agricultural sector is already in crisis. moreover, youth have grown aspirational and will not take kindly to an atmosphere of restricted political and social freedoms. a ll this will hurt B j P in elections and make Prime minister Narendra Modi’s modernising agenda seem hollow.
At the same time, writers also need to reflect on the perhaps unintended irony of returning their Sahitya a kademi awards as a protest against the government. t his implicitly concedes that Sahitya a kademi is a government body, and thereby raises the question why they were content with government patronage and did not fight for an autonomous body that truly represents writers.
A related concern is whether writers have been as vocal about muslim fundamentalism, or of left-wing crackdowns on dissent, as they have been on hindu fundamentalism. Few writers protested, for example, when the Left stifled intellectual life in Bengal or when Taslima nasrin was drummed out of that state. a solution would be to have a robust, autonomous body of writers that is willing to speak out on assaults on freedom of expression, no matter what quarter the attack is coming from. the government, on its part, must note that leftwing intolerance does not justify right-wing intolerance; both will lead to the same sorry results. India can flourish only in a liberal atmosphere, which gives citizens the right to choose.
