Writers returning their awards - what do they hope to achieve?

The present government was voted on the agenda of development. Since its inception however their agenda seems to be different, one which was not put before the voters. It is the environment of hate and interference in the personal preferences of citizens that is spreading now and leading to the sad killings of innocent citizens and rationalist writers that is taking place, which is being protested by these writers, by returning their awards. It shows a lack of understanding and grace to question their motives and to ask repeatedly, where were they when Sikhs were killed or some particular writer was attacked. The anti Sikh riots were an unfortunate reaction for a short period of time but there was no sustained agenda against them. For strong reactions to develop it takes time to crystalize. It shows height of intolerance that even act of returning awards is intolerable. The govt needs to perform and not be sustained by its supporters on skewed agendas of buried long ago.

Now, the facts clearly show that it was again the Hindu girl and Muslim boy behind this murder which was committed by spreading rumor of beef eating the case is left to a murder and accused get punished according to rule of law. If the writers still do not see the reason it's nothing but politicizing the situation. The opposition is doing its level best to keep the issue in limelight even if they have to bring bad name to their own country. A minister responsible in UP government for keeping law and order has gone to UN to protect Muslims from fundamentalists. what a joke,  the question is who will save the slaughter of Hindus from the other party which is a common scene in the area.

In a free country its free citizens can marry anyone they like unless it is a case of kidnapping. The environment of hate between communities is being propagated and vested persons  are not either able to see it or are deliberately avoiding the issue. The MP of that area was himself partner in a beef project ! Do we have to look at each other as Indians or as Hindus, Muslims, Dalits, Sikhs, Christians etc. That will decide the issue. 

First of all the government at the center has not sanctioned any of the killings , either of the rationalist writers nor the lynching in UP and all of it should be condemned in the strongest of words and culprits punished suitably ..If at all the UP government should take responsibility for the later attack and the Karnataka government for the attack on Kalburgi. There were always attacks in India , in fact even worse atrocities committed on tribals and Dalits and rational voices were curbed in West Bengal not once but many times , but  no one seemed to really care nor did they think of returning their awards.. The largest communal violence took place in 1984 where nearly 3000 sikhs were brutally massacred  and of course other than lip sympathy no one really did anything nor did the rationalists go on a protest when the people directly responsible for the violence have been roaming free with the help of the concerned party leaders...The sikh riots are still an issue with sikhs who have lost their families and loved ones if people think it is a one time agenda they should think of the distress that this one time agenda has caused for generation of sikh families .

I see intolerance in these rationalists who do not want to be a part of the mainstream.No one is taking away their right of expression but when you live in a society you have to blend in and any thought you express should not hurt the sentiments of people...I have had the experience of interacting with some of the rational writers who were the office bearer for writers group here and one can see the intolerance at every level , they tend to think they are superior beings , which is more than anything amusing .This is also communalism and many common people find it very insulting. If at all clashes take place, it is because of such attitude more than anything else, and, if they want to truly bring in changes they need to convince rather than confront and insult peoples beliefs . But I seriously doubt if they have any such agenda, it is protest for the sake of protest , indirectly showing their support to a political party ..

It would do a world of good if issues were not seen above this party and that party or referring constantly to past incidents. The present is far more important because it is the reality. Personal egos and superiority complexes cannot be excuses for rational ideas to be denounced. Whether a govt agrees or not , the govt during whose time incidents occur are held responsible by common people and punished at time of elections, most of the time. It is the sly polarization under the garb of development that is worrisome. Does not matter which political party does it. It is going to harm the country in the long run. Even forums like ours will not be allowed to operate. Does it not worry us? What is use blaming the past. Let us think of the future.

I doubt if the writers see it that way, they take this step of returning their awards because a certain party is in power...Their grouse is nit against the state government which failed to protect them, but against the central government ! So it is they who are politicising the issue by showing selective outrage !

The very intention of these writers who returned their awards was some thing different. The reason according to those writers is  Dadri lynching incident. in fact these protesters were led by a group that have some other political affiliations. And it's a small group. But the group  in reality is against a party which ruling the country. The party that's leading the  protesters are desperately trying to come in to power once again. It's obvious who is politicizing the whole issue. 

usha manohar wrote:

I doubt if the writers see it that way, they take this step of returning their awards because a certain party is in power...Their grouse is nit against the state government which failed to protect them, but against the central government ! So it is they who are politicising the issue by showing selective outrage !

The state governments are responsible for law and order. To that extent, The U.P. government managed by Samajvadi Party is responsible. But the fact remains that the culprits behind the outrage are none but the saffron block. The promient figures belonging to main ruling party at cente are obstructing arrestof the culprits who are definitely associated with the saffron organization. We cannot equate the watchman with thief. That is to say that the negligence of state government cannot be equated with criminal activities of the saffron organizations whose pivot is RSS- the rallying point as well as real ruling organization at center.  

Renouncing an award is a very old practice. As we all know that Tagore did it by returning his Knighthood after Jaliwanwalla Bagh massacre. He was right in doing so. At present the writers have all the right to show their protest in their own way but it should be backed by a strong moral ground. The same writer must act in the same way when a similar situation arises again irrespective of any political bias. If this time the writers renounced the awards only to show support to a certain political party and to demean another then their act lose its sheen but countering a writer by posing a question that why she didn't do it during the Anti-Sikh riot then my simple opinion is maybe she failed to react at that moment but that does not signify her support for the riot. This writer spoke against Emergency so I would like to think that the writer has no hidden agenda. Expression of reaction may vary due to age and many other conditions.

Gulshan Kumar Ajmani wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

I doubt if the writers see it that way, they take this step of returning their awards because a certain party is in power...Their grouse is nit against the state government which failed to protect them, but against the central government ! So it is they who are politicising the issue by showing selective outrage !

The state governments are responsible for law and order. To that extent, The U.P. government managed by Samajvadi Party is responsible. But the fact remains that the culprits behind the outrage are none but the saffron block. The promient figures belonging to main ruling party at cente are obstructing arrestof the culprits who are definitely associated with the saffron organization. We cannot equate the watchman with thief. That is to say that the negligence of state government cannot be equated with criminal activities of the saffron organizations whose pivot is RSS- the rallying point as well as real ruling organization at center.  

 

Between the year 1985-1995 more than 600 Kashmir Pandits were butchered by the militant groups in Kashmir and there was a mass exodus of Pandits from Srinagar ...so it was the centers fault then too according to your argument and I don't remember the writers especially Nayan Tara who is also a Kashmiri getting panic stricken nor feeling a twinge of conscience, deciding to return her award. Let us not simply make excuses, everybody knows who is behind this step ...it is the party that calls itself secular but in actuality is the most communal of all parties in this country ..At least the so called Saffron brigade has the guts to show itself in true colors and if they are behind the attack since the opposition wants it to be that way , they will be caught and punished !

Shampa Sadhya wrote:

Renouncing an award is a very old practice. As we all know that Tagore did it by returning his Knighthood after Jaliwanwalla Bagh massacre. He was right in doing so. At present the writers have all the right to show their protest in their own way but it should be backed by a strong moral ground. The same writer must act in the same way when a similar situation arises again irrespective of any political bias. If this time the writers renounced the awards only to show support to a certain political party and to demean another then their act lose its sheen but countering a writer by posing a question that why she didn't do it during the Anti-Sikh riot then my simple opinion is maybe she failed to react at that moment but that does not signify her support for the riot. This writer spoke against Emergency so I would like to think that the writer has no hidden agenda. Expression of reaction may vary due to age and many other conditions.

According to your point of view, if she failed to show reaction during the antisikh riots, she failed again and again many times. She failed again when she did react during the 1993 Mumbai riots followed by several blasts time and again which killed people of all caste and creed, she failed again when Hindus were burnt in the Godhra train and Muslims were killed later on in the following riots. There are just too many incidents that can be cited here. But leaving the political turmoil aside, she again failed miserably when Tasleema Tasrin appealed to the WB government seeking asylum but Mamta Banerjee refused to grant her asylum because she is a Bengali Muslim and welcoming her in WB would have affected Mamata's Bengali Muslim votebank. Now Tasleema Nasreen is one TRUE rationalist and a sensitive writer who should have been welcomed with open arms. If she was refused by the government, why didn't Nasrin's counterparts in India, including Nayantara speak out? It is this selective outrage and sensitivity that these writers bloc keep showing, is what is most disgusting./ Only when a Muslim is killed or a Mosque is targetted, these so-called rationalists speak up. I did not hear a single squeak out of these pseudo intellectuals when just very recently, during a large Muslim rally in Mumbai, several lady police constables were cornered and seriously molested and harassed. The ladies were only doing their duty and the large crowd of Muslims behaved horribly with these women such that they are now scarred for life. Not even a squeak from Nayantara, Ganesh Devi and others on that incident. So what freedom of speech or other rights THEY have any rights to talk about?

@Kalyani Nandurkar See, I am not at all supporting the writers if they have done it with an agenda of demeaning someone or a particular party. I just gave a benefit of doubt and that's it. The logic you gave as well as @usha manohar wrote in her last reply related to Kashmiri Pundits are all very true. I have nothing to object to all these valid points and the writers who have renounced the awards to show their resentment against intolerance is acceptable to me but if they did it to give a political colour to such incidents then it is very much unacceptable. 

Politicizing the issues is a tool used by  Unscrupulous Politicians. And another favorite tool for these opportunists is adding  communal color for their existence and survival. The issue under our discussion is nothing but a political drama only to defame the ruling party. In this connection it is worth hearing the reply of Home Minister Rajnath Singh's statement. Here is the link.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/dont-give-political-colour-to-dadri-lynching-incident-rajnath-singh/

There was a time not very long ago when we saw in each other an Indian. Today there is a paradigm shift. We see  each other's religion and respond accordingly.  Whole communities are branded under different labels. Incidents of the past are intermingled with situations of today and sweeping judgments passed. Right of freedom of speech  today means my viewpoint prevails. The more narrower the outlook the more effective it is becoming.  The writers are protesting against the slaughter of their  brother writers and they are being hounded and abused as if they have committed a crime. There is a guilt complex operating somewhere in the extreme responses. 

When we look at a situation we have to see both sides not just one side...Writers have been feeling threatened since a long time in India and elsewhere in the world and now with the two killings they may feel more so.No one is saying that they have no right to protest . The problem here is the manner in which the different political parties are posturing by taking sides, almost as if it is the fault of one party and what is happening now has never happened before in India which is of course far from truth ...The writers too are human and while they have the right to support any political establishment they want, the very fact that they call themselves as rationalist writers , the expectations are far more and when they become tools in the hands of the political parties , naturally questions will be raised about their intent.

Yesterday there was a debate where one of the author/columnist Keki Daruwalla admitted that they had no agenda of returning the award until Nayantara did and the rest followed suit ! When he was questioned why they did not do so earlier when there were far more gruesome incidents , he had no ready answer to that..It goes to show that they are being led by political parties for their own benefits..

Their motives are suspect to say the least.Why did they accept accept state awards in the first place.I can not name not too many but a few honorable ones whose names do honor to pages of history who firmly subscribed to their firm belief that any state award or reward is nothing but a bribe or inducement to buy their independence and they scrupulously avoided and rejected them.The less we say about our intelligentsia the better.A majority of them are loose cannons and of dubious characters.

usha manohar wrote:

The so called symbolism is nothing but their irrationality because these people never protested when Sikh riots took place nor when many such events took place , which goes to show  their double standards and that they cater to the interest of one political party ..

http://indiafacts.co.in/where-was-nayantara-sahgal-when-india-actually-needed-her/

Yes today also one person return awards. What happen with it. I don't know but it may possible that some cash also attached with these  rewards. Are they refunding cash? It is only to come in to lime light.

 

anil wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

The so called symbolism is nothing but their irrationality because these people never protested when Sikh riots took place nor when many such events took place , which goes to show  their double standards and that they cater to the interest of one political party ..

http://indiafacts.co.in/where-was-nayantara-sahgal-when-india-actually-needed-her/

Yes today also one person return awards. What happen with it. I don't know but it may possible that some cash also attached with these  rewards. Are they refunding cash? It is only to come in to lime light.

 

 

LOL...It will be difficult to trace the cash now , so that is the bonus for them to keep , the award is being given back ...

anil wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

The so called symbolism is nothing but their irrationality because these people never protested when Sikh riots took place nor when many such events took place , which goes to show  their double standards and that they cater to the interest of one political party ..

http://indiafacts.co.in/where-was-nayantara-sahgal-when-india-actually-needed-her/

Yes today also one person return awards. What happen with it. I don't know but it may possible that some cash also attached with these  rewards. Are they refunding cash? It is only to come in to lime light.

 

 Cash attached to the reward will not be refunded. That cash is meant for the rewardee's pocket . 

 

Some one was taunted the same way and she attached a chque of Rs one lac along with her award. She says the balance can be kept as interest for the money paid.