Prominent Jammu and Kashmir writer and journalist Ghulam Nabi Khayal on Tuesday decided to return his Sahitya Akademi award in protest against the growing intolerance in the country.
"I have been watching the situation across the whole of India for the last one-year since the BJP took over at the Centre. Certain incidents have been taken places which are aimed at spreading communalism and division in the country." he said.
Terming incidents like the Dadri lynching, the ink attack on Sudheendra Kulkarni and Shiv Sena succeeding in cancelling a Ghulam Ali concert in Mumbai as barbaric, Khayal said any conscientious writer who believes in the freedom of writing, speech, expression and thought, would be advised to return the Sahitya Akademi award.
"This award was given to scores of writers to recognize intellectual talent and contribution in the field of literature, but when we are being gagged and our expressions are suppressed, so, it is better to return this award and tell them (government) goodbye," he told ANI here.
"The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is a party of illiterate people. Yesterday, BJP activists said that writers returning awards are being motivated, who will motivate us?" he asked, adding that they are trying to cover up their own faults, blunders and mistakes.
A literary body, Adabi Markaz Kamraz (AMK), on Sunday expressed its anguish over the silence of the Sahitya Akademi over the "communal frenzy" in the country and asked the award winners from the Kashmir valley to stand up and protest against this silence.
"The Sahitya Akademi award winners from Kashmir must stand up against this silence and muster courage to side with right thinking people," said Syed Shujat Bukhari, the president of Adabi Markaz Kamraz.