New Delhi :
Post Dadri lynching and beef ban incidents, India’s diversity debate has struck a chord with noted poets and writers in the country who are showing their protests by returning acclaimed awards to the Modi government.
First it was Nayantara Sahgal, the 88-year-old niece of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who called the murder of a man over beef related incident as scathing in her statement ‘Unmaking of India’.
In an act of protest, she also returned her Sahitya Akademi award calling the assault vicious and tampering.
On Wednesday another noted personality, poet Ashok Vajpeyi, gave up his prestigious literary honour by calling, "It is high time that writers take a stand."
Vajpeyi, a former chairperson of the Lalit Kala Akademi, is the third person to follow the act; earlier, Hindi writer Uday Prakash also had returned his award publically.
Vajpeyi also praised Nayantara Sahgal for taking such a strong stand and asked the writers community to come forward.
Turning the course of debate, Vajpeyi asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak on the issue.
While speaking to a news channel, the poet said, "Mr Modi who is an eloquent Prime Minister and addresses lakhs of people is keeping quiet on the issue. In India, writers are being murdered, innocent people are being killed, and his ministers are making objectionable statements...Why doesn't he shut them up? He should tell the nation that the pluralism of this community will be defended at every cost? His government makes announcements that this would not be tolerated, that would not be tolerated ...but tolerance is there. How is it that all this has erupted now?"
Interestingly, Nayantara Sahgal had also questioned PM Modi's silence by saying, "He has uttered no word of condemnation at all at these incidents. The whole country wishes the Prime Minister to make a statement because the situation is getting more and more serious."
She also commented, "Under Modi India is going backwards, regressing, narrowing down to Hindutva...there is rising intolerance and lots of Indians are living in fear."
This comes at a time when India is suffering from communal tensions. Be it Dadri lynching, Beef ban incidents or Varanasi violence, opposition has also targeted Prime Minister to speak up on the issue but will he?
High time Mr Modi. Time to reveal your ‘Mann Ki Baat’ now?
