UPDATE:: A bit more context from
“People are being murdered for their beliefs and opinions,” read a letter signed by a dozen filmmakers who returned one of India’s top awards on Wednesday. “There seems to be no attempt to unravel the larger picture and bring to book extremist groups that believe in ruthless violence to eliminate those who hold a counter view from theirs. There has been no official condemnation of these groups and we question this silence.”
The group also expressed solidarity with students at India’s top film school who have protested political appointments to their school’s administration. The students ended a four-month long strike but vowed to continue protesting the appointments from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right wing, Hindu nationalist party in other ways.
The movement first gained momentum when a group of more than 40 writers gave back award’s from a government-supported literary association earlier this month.
The protest is not just limited to those engaged in the arts, however.
On Thursday, prominent Indian scientists returned awards, including the country’s third most prestigious recognition for science.
The move was meant to condemn what one of the scientists called “the government’s attack on rationalism, reasoning, and science.”
Many in India's literary community are disgusted. Dozens of writers say every day brings more evidence of intolerance and bigotry going mainstream — a man lynched allegedly for eating beef, an atheist critic of Hindu idol worship gunned down — all met by a deafening silence from the government.
As of Wednesday, 41 novelists, essayists, playwrights and poets had returned the awards they received from India's prestigious literary academy to protest what they call a growing climate of intolerance under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
The writers are also angry that India's Sahitya Akademi, or National Academy of Letters, has said little about the murder of the well-known rationalist Malleshappa Kalburgi, an award-winning Kannada-language writer, gunned down in August for his writings against superstition and false beliefs.
The government has dismissed the writers' protests, questioning their motives and accusing them of being politically motivated.
"If they say they are unable to write, let them stop writing," culture minister Mahesh Sharma told reporters.
41 writers return Indian award, cite climate of intolerance
No comments:
Post a Comment