By IndiaTomorrow.net,
Kolkata/New Delhi, 14 Oct 2015: Mandakranta Sen, who returned her Sahitya Akademi Young Writers Special Award, told IndiaTomorrow.net today that her decision was closely related to the Dadri lynching.
Talking to IndiaTomorrow.net over phone, she said, “The society is caught in the trap of religious fundamentalism, and the Dadri incident is one of the most glaring examples of that intolerance. My protest is undoubtedly against the brutality and the fundamentalism or fanaticism linked to the lynching.”
Sen was one of the five young Indian authors who were awarded the “Sahitya Akademi Young Writers Special Award” in 2004 to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Sahitya Akademi.
On her decision to return the Akademi award against the blustering winds of communalism in the country, Mandakranta said, “The duty of writers is to reflect upon what is happening in the society, and the Indian society is witnessing a phase of continued unrest related to religious fundamentalism and attacks against the voices with a free will and the culture of tolerance. The Akademy is at the center of the literary culture and industry, and that’s why I have chosen to return the award that it had given me in 2004.”
Incidentally Mandakranta is the first among the Bengali writers to return any award over the growing intolerance in the country. “I was awaiting the leading figures of Bengali literature, my elders in the literary circle, to do something first so I could follow the suit, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Finally when I felt the waiting should be over and it was time to act, I made the decision to follow the call of my own conscience. I am feeling relieved now,” added the soft-spoken Sen.
Before Mandakranta, another young writer Aman Sethi returned the Akademi’s award for young writers, which was given to him in 2012. In the past couple of weeks, more than two dozen Akademi award winners, including India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s niece Nayantara Sehgal, have returned their awards. On Tuesday, noted Punjabi writer Dalip Kaur Tiwana returned her Padma Shri award, the fourth highest civilian award of India, which was given to her also in 2004, the same year in which Mandakranta Sen was awarded the honor by the Sahitya Akademi.
So far, about 37 writers and poets have returned their awards or resigned from the Sahitya Akademi over the growing intolerance and attacks on writers in the country.
