'Never witnessed such intolerance' in India, says poet Gulzar

Over 50 Indian writers have returned their awards to protest growing climate of intolerance under PM Narendra Modi

Expressing concern over the growing instances of communal violence in India, noted lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar has said he never witnessed such intolerance in the country before.

As many as 50 novelists, essayists, playwrights and poets have returned the awards they received from India’s prestigious literary academy to protest what they call a growing climate of intolerance under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

Sahitya Akademi has also been criticised by India’s literati for its silence over the murders of writers, including secular scholar M M Kalburgi, who was shot dead in August, allegedly by Hindu radicals.

Indian top literary body condemns killings of writers

"The murder that has hurt us all is somewhere the fault of the system/government... Returning the award was an act of protest. Writers don't have any other way to register their protest,” he said.
“We have never witnessed this kind of religious intolerance."

"Never thought that a situation like this would come where a person's religion is asked before his name. It was never like this... What politics can a writer do? A writer just speaks from his heart, mind and soul. They are the conscience keepers of the society. They are the keepers of the soul of the society," added Gulzar.

41 writers return Indian awards

In the wake of the authors' protest, the Sahitya Akademi passed a unanimous resolution on Friday, appealing the government to take steps to prevent such incidents and asked authors to take back the awards they had returned to protest against "rising intolerance".

The article first appeared on NDTV