As authors continue to return national awards and resign from the Sahitya Akademi to protest the institution’s silence on attacks against writers and intellectuals, at least one of the dissidents has been questioned by the police about his gesture.
On Monday, a police representative visited the home of renowned linguist Ganesh Devy in Vadodara to make inquiries about whether writers had launched a campaign “to spread disaffection for the state". The previous day, Devy had announced his decision to return the Sahitya Akademi award he had received in 1992 for his book, After Amnesia.
“I do this as an expression of my solidarity with several eminent writers who have recently returned their awards to highlight their concern and anxiety over the shrinking space for free expression and growing intolerance towards difference of opinion,” he wrote.
Shortly after, Devy said an "Inspector level officer" phoned him and came to his home on Monday at noon. “She identified herself with her official identity card and then asked me if this was an organised movement and if so who is behind it,” he said in an email message to Scroll.in.
A polite chat
In his message, the writer added: “I explained that this is not an organised movement and that there is no one behind it. This information gathering, she told me, was on behest of the Home Ministry. So, I conclude that others like me too will be asked to answer these and related questions.”
He added that the officer was extremely polite – “almost like a next-door neighbor”. The conversation continued for about an hour, he said.
The officer’s main concern, Devy said, “was to see if I, and others, were trying to spread disaffection for the state".
The writer added that this is not the first time he has been visited by the police. “In Baroda, this is the usual method of information gathering and I have faced this many times before due to the nature of my work with rural communities and language documentation,” he said.
It isn’t clear if any other writers who have returned their Sahitya Akademi awards have received similar visits.
Widespread protests
The protests got underway on September 12, when Hindi writer Uday Prakash sent back his prize, claiming that free expression was endangered under the Narendra Modi government. “The Akademi organises a tamasha of sorts, presents you an award and forgets about you,” he wrote. “When something like this happens, there is no word of consolation and support from them. Writers are a family but they don’t seem to care.”
Since then, nearly two dozen writers have returned national and state literary awards. On October 10, novelist Shashi Deshpande resigned from the Sahitya Akademi General Council, while Malayalam writer K Satchidanandan resigned from the Executive Board and other committees of the Sahitya Akademi.
So far, the government has not displayed much sympathy for their concerns. On Tuesday, the Indian Express quoted Culture Minister Sharma as saying, “If [writers] say they are unable to write, let them first stop writing. We will then see.”
Later in the day, Sharma claimed he had been misquoted.
“These writers are the pride and glory of our country,” he clarified to ANI. “They have made the nation proud with their achievements but I want to appeal to them that the platform that they have chosen to voice their protest is wrong.”
While saying that writers should write to him and Prime Minister Modi and not return awards to a non-political organisation, he added, “Law and order is a matter of the state and should not be meddled with.”
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On Monday, a police representative visited the home of renowned linguist Ganesh Devy in Vadodara to make inquiries about whether writers had launched a campaign “to spread disaffection for the state". The previous day, Devy had announced his decision to return the Sahitya Akademi award he had received in 1992 for his book, After Amnesia.
“I do this as an expression of my solidarity with several eminent writers who have recently returned their awards to highlight their concern and anxiety over the shrinking space for free expression and growing intolerance towards difference of opinion,” he wrote.
Shortly after, Devy said an "Inspector level officer" phoned him and came to his home on Monday at noon. “She identified herself with her official identity card and then asked me if this was an organised movement and if so who is behind it,” he said in an email message to Scroll.in.
A polite chat
In his message, the writer added: “I explained that this is not an organised movement and that there is no one behind it. This information gathering, she told me, was on behest of the Home Ministry. So, I conclude that others like me too will be asked to answer these and related questions.”
He added that the officer was extremely polite – “almost like a next-door neighbor”. The conversation continued for about an hour, he said.
The officer’s main concern, Devy said, “was to see if I, and others, were trying to spread disaffection for the state".
The writer added that this is not the first time he has been visited by the police. “In Baroda, this is the usual method of information gathering and I have faced this many times before due to the nature of my work with rural communities and language documentation,” he said.
It isn’t clear if any other writers who have returned their Sahitya Akademi awards have received similar visits.
Widespread protests
The protests got underway on September 12, when Hindi writer Uday Prakash sent back his prize, claiming that free expression was endangered under the Narendra Modi government. “The Akademi organises a tamasha of sorts, presents you an award and forgets about you,” he wrote. “When something like this happens, there is no word of consolation and support from them. Writers are a family but they don’t seem to care.”
Since then, nearly two dozen writers have returned national and state literary awards. On October 10, novelist Shashi Deshpande resigned from the Sahitya Akademi General Council, while Malayalam writer K Satchidanandan resigned from the Executive Board and other committees of the Sahitya Akademi.
So far, the government has not displayed much sympathy for their concerns. On Tuesday, the Indian Express quoted Culture Minister Sharma as saying, “If [writers] say they are unable to write, let them first stop writing. We will then see.”
Later in the day, Sharma claimed he had been misquoted.
“These writers are the pride and glory of our country,” he clarified to ANI. “They have made the nation proud with their achievements but I want to appeal to them that the platform that they have chosen to voice their protest is wrong.”
While saying that writers should write to him and Prime Minister Modi and not return awards to a non-political organisation, he added, “Law and order is a matter of the state and should not be meddled with.”