Ahead of the emergency meeting by the Sahitya Akademi, many writers on Friday held a silent march to protest against growing intolerance in the country and particularly against the murder of noted Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi.
The writers marched to the Sahitya Akademi with black bands across their mouths in a sign of protest.
"This protest is about the violence on people, artists, rational thinkers and in general on the art practice. You can't dictate to the artists what they can and cannot do, it completely defeats the purpose of art," writer Anuradha kapoor told ANI.
Meanwhile, the right wing writers were also present at the same venue protesting against the 'platform' chosen by the writers to demonstrate their agitation.
They were spotted with placards and banners saying 'writers returning the awards, get well soon!"
"We are here against their decision to return their award. First of all, they were not even worthy to receive them in the forest place. They don't value the honour," Dr Baldev vanshi, a protesting author told ANI.
Another writer slammed the protesting fraternity question where their sense of agitation was when Hindus were being attacked in Kashmir and Sikhs were being targeted in Delhi.
All eyes will be trained on the outcome of the meeting today to see how the board handles the crisis and the growing chorus of protesting writers.
Over 40 writers and poets have returned their awards in protest against the Akademi's silence over recent issues of rising intolerance.
