Writers have every right to protest
I have been avidly following the contentious debate on writers returning their awards both in the mainstream and social media. By now 30 writers have returned their Sahitya Akademi awards, a move that the government has called “a manufactured protest”.
Everyone has an opinion. The politicians, media, readers, citizens and other writers.
The reactions have ranged from admiration, respect, to contempt and scorn.
These writers who returned their awards to make a powerful statement have had their integrity questioned, their gesture mocked and their motives questioned.
In the cacophony of discordant voices, has everyone missed the irony of the fact that these writers were protesting against the intolerance that now shrouds India?
Are they not right? Have we respected their decision? Have we allowed them the right to express themselves in the way in which they wanted to?
And among the noise, the voices screaming the loudest and shrillest have been the colleagues of these writers. Why didn’t they return their awards before? What politics is this? Why show disrespect to the country? Are they going to change their citizenship too? And hand over their passports too?
The criticism, the personal attacks and the questions flew hard and fast. Writers and journalists began Twitter battles sniping at each other with their colleagues taking sides and all their respective followers putting in their own two cents.
As a journalist and a writer myself, I am angered at the barrage of criticism hurled at these writers, who made a personal choice. They wanted to do it. Why can’t they be free to express themselves in the way they want?
I am not shocked at the politicians criticising them. I am not outraged at readers and citizens making comments but I am totally disappointed at the lack of understanding displayed by fellow writers.
The whole idea of being a writer means that you have an open mind and you are willing to explore and understand multiple viewpoints.
Do you really have a right to judge your colleagues? Are they asking you to renounce your honours? And to give up your awards? Then why this holier than thou stance?
What are you getting out of this? Shouldn’t we question your motives? Your agenda?
As a writer and a journalist of Indian origin based in the US, I believe that we should be able to have an open dialogue within our fraternity. We don’t have to always agree but we should have a sort of unity among ourselves. We can stand together and be supportive while having different opinions.
We are a unique group. We are compassionate, sensitive and emotional and we care deeply about the causes and issues that affect our world. We fight for the underdogs and we stand up against injustice.
Sometimes we do through our art, sometimes we do through the stories we report and sometimes we do as gestures of protest. We believe that it’s important so we do it. We don’t need your approval. We knew going in that we were not going to win popularity contests. But we believed it had to be done. Deal with it.
As for the question if it makes a difference, let me share a personal story. In 1984, I was a Sikh teenager who witnessed the viciousness and brutality of the anti-Sikh riots that occurred after Indira Gandhi was assassinated.
I watched my devastated community dealing with the horror of the riots and in the aftermath, as we rebuilt, we searched for kindness and support and we did get it from many sources.
But one of the gestures that touched my young heart was the one made by Khushwant Singh, who gave back his award after Operation Blue Star. The badly bruised Sikh community had to salute him on that day.It did make a difference.