Another two eminent writers on Sunday announced that they were returning their Sahitya Akademi awards, joining the growing protest by litterateurs over "rising intolerance" and "communal" atmosphere, and the "silence" of the Sahitya Akademi over the killing of Kannada scholar M. M. Kalburgi.
Writer GN Devy and Aman Sethi returned their awards after noted Kannada author Aravind Malagatti resigned today from the Sahitya Akademi's Common Council.
On August 30, two unidentified assailants allegedly shot dead Kalburgi (77) at his residence at Dharwad in north Karnataka.
On Friday, acclaimed writer Shashi Deshpande had resigned from the Sahitya Akademi, while other six writers returned their Arulu Sahitya awards to the Kannada Sahitya Academy on October 3 over the delay in the arrest of the accused in the murder of eminent Kannada writer, scholar, rationalist and academic, Kalburgi.
