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Amid growing protests by Sahitya Akademi awardees, renowned poet and lyricist Gulzar said communal harmony is being harmed to such a level that people are not allowed to even talk with freedom.
Noted lyricist Gulzar on Saturday lamented the growing religious intolerance in the country that has never been “witnessed” before and justified authors returning their Sahitya Akademi awards over this trend.
Gulzar, 81, also said he never thought that a situation like this would come where a person’s religion is asked before knowing his name.
He said giving back the awards was the only way a writer can register protest.
Many writers have returned their Akademi awards in protest against the killing of Kannada writer M M Kalburgi and rising instances of attacks on intellectuals.
Gulzar said while the killing was not Akademi’s fault, the authors wanted the institution to recognise and protest against the incidents.
“The murder that has hurt us all is somewhere the fault of the system/government... Returning the award was an act of protest. Writers don’t have any other way to register their protest. We have never witnessed this kind of religious intolerance. At least, we were fearless in expressing ourselves,” Gulzar said.
Expressing concern over the growing instances of religious intolerance, he rubbished claims that the writers’ decision to return the awards was politically motivated.
“Never thought that a situation like this would come where a person’s religion is asked before his name. It was never like this... What politics can a writer do? A writer just speaks from his heart, mind and soul. They are the conscience keepers of the society. They are the keepers of the soul of the society,” he said.
In the wake of the authors’ protest, the Sahitya Akademi finally passed a unanimous resolution on Friday appealing to state and central governments to take steps to prevent such incidents and asked authors to take back the awards they had returned to protest against “rising intolerance”.