Returning of Awards: Rise of the Moderate Hindus

Aasef Chauhdry

In the recent past the Indian extremists from Shiv Sena and BJP has made the life of the Muslims and other minorities miserable. Since many years they have been burning churches, trains, temples etc but the recent wave of radicalism is unprecedented because this time it’s none other than their own Hindu intellectuals. In case of Muslims the hate wave has reached to the far flung areas of peaceful provinces like Uttar Pradesh, where people had never heard of killing or burning, ever before. The current shameful conduct of lynching an innocent Muslim Muhammad Akhlaq merely on the basis of rumours and killing a renowned writer Dr. Kalburgi has not only made the Indians to bow their heads in shame but have also compelled the intellectual, moderate and peaceful class of the Indian society known as the writers to not only raise their voice but have forced them to return their well deserved awards and affiliated monetary benefits back.

These two incidents took place during last couple of months. The first one was a cold blooded murder of Dr. MM Kalburgi an author of about 100 books, on 30 August 2015 and the second one was the lynching of Muhammad Akhlaq, allegedly for slaughtering a cow. Sadly, both the tragic incidents took place inside the respective victims’ houses.

Dr MM Kalburgi, 78 was a renowned Kannada writer, research scholar and rationalist. He was shot dead at point blank range at his home, allegedly for his views on idol worship and Hindu rituals. Though no group or persons claimed responsibility for shooting Dr Kalburgi, however, initial reports suggested that right-wing activists might be involved.

Born in Vijayapura (Bijapur) district in 1938, Dr Kalburgi studied Kannada literature and taught at the Department of Kannada, Karnatak University, Dharwad, one of the oldest universities in Karnataka. He was also the vice-chancellor of the Kannada University, Hampi, Ballari (Bellary) district. He had won several important awards, including those from Central Sahitya Academy, Karnataka Sahitya Academy, Pampa Award, Nadoja Award and Nrupathunga Award.

He had authored over 100 books in Kannada and was a natural orator too. He was considered an authority on Vachana literature (propagated by the 12th Century philosopher and social reformer Basavanna). In fact, Basavanna was opposed to religion, religious practices and Brahminical rituals. Followers of Basavanna are called Lingayats in Karnataka and Dr Kalburgi belonged to the same community. Last year, the police had filed a case against him for allegedly hurting the sentiments of Hindus after he criticised idol worship quoting a literary work of another celebrated writer and Jnanpith awardee late Dr UR Ananthamurthy. Not to be cowed down by such intimidations, Dr Kalburgi continued his campaign against idol worship and Brahminical rituals. On Sunday, 30 August 2015 morning, at around 7.40 am, two youths knocked his door and his unsuspecting wife ushered them in. Introducing themselves as students of the professor, they entered his room and shot him twice in his forehead. Before Dr Kalburgi’s wife could come to her senses, the youths had fled on their motorbike.

The other sad episode is now mostly known as Dadri mob lynching in which a mob of people attacked a Muslim family on the night of 28 September 2015 in Bisara village near Dadri, Uttar Pradesh province of India. The attackers killed 52 year old Mohammad Akhlaq Saifi and seriously injured his son, 22 year old Danish. On 28 September 2015 evening, two boys used the local temple’s public announcement system to spread the rumour that the family of Mohammad Akhlaq had killed a cow and consumed its meat on Eid ul Adha.  Eventually, a mob carrying sticks, swords and pistols arrived at Mohammad Akhlaq’s house at around 10:30pm and accused them of consuming beef. They dragged the family outside. Akhlaq and Danish was repeatedly kicked, hit with bricks and stabbed. Akhlaq’s elderly mother and wife were also attacked. They killed Akhlaq and badly injured Danish. This happened to a family that was living in that village for about the 70 years.Both the incidents were strongly condemned by the notables from every walk of Indian society. A renowned Muslim leader Asaduddin Owaisi criticized the police’s for its bias attitude. He also criticized the ruling party of the state for inaction and the local BJP leaders for defending the rioters. A few days after the lynching, author Nayantara Sahgal returned her Sahitya Akademi award in protest of the growing intolerance in the country. She pointed to the recent murders of MM Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Goving Pansare and called Dadri lynching her last straw. Soon she was followed by Ashok Vajpeyi and Rehman Abbas who also returned their awards.

This countrywide protest hasn’t stopped, rather it has picked up the pace and a large number of authors, writers, researchers and poets are returning their awards/cash prizes, which is quite alarming. Eminent Malayalam writer Sarah Joseph and Urdu novelist Rehman Abbas on Saturday announced they will return the Sahitya Akademi award and the Maharashtra State Urdu Sahitya Academy award respectively, joining a growing protest against ‘rising intolerance’ in the backdrop of murder of noted rationalists and Dadri lynching incident. The announcement came on a day when noted Malayalam writers K Satchidanandan, PK Parakkadavu and KS Ravikumar quit their posts in the Akademi in protest against the murder of Kannada writer and rationalist MM Kalburgi in Dharwad. English author Keki N Daruwalla wrote a letter of protest to Akademi chairperson Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari over the literary body’s “soporific stance” to Kalburgi’s killing. Joseph, who won the prestigious honour for her novel ‘Aalahayude Penmakkal’ (Daughters of God the Father), said she would soon send the cash prize and plaque to the Akademi by courier.

Nevertheless, the sad part is the attitude of the ruling party’s leaders and some of the extremist Hindu leaders. The culture minister Mahesh Sharma who was supposed to play down a string of Sahitya Akademi awardees surrendering their award or resigning from the organisation, rather insisted that it was the writers’ “personal choice”.

Describing the return of Sahitya Akademi awards by several writers following the Dadri lynching

incident as a “manufactured paper rebellion” against the government “in the wake of a manufactured crisis”, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asked the writers tauntingly whether their protest was “real or manufactured” and if it was “a case of ideological intolerance”.

Jaitley while targeting the writers said, “With the Congress showing no signs of revival and an insignificant Left lacking legislative relevance, the recipients of past patronage are now resorting to “politics by other means”. The manufactured protest of the writers is one such case.”

Indian society has visibly divided into good and bad people, with the devil’s followers certainly ruling the affairs and calling the shots. The minorities were already upset and were having certainly the insecure life; however the current extremism wave has turned the peaceful, moderate and humane Hindus also restless and returning of their awards as a protest clearly shows how concerned they are for a secular India. Modi and his followers are doing to India what the enemies couldn’t do in the decades. The opponents have a reason to consider it as a blessing in disguise.