Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Oct 14: At a time when many literateurs are returning their Sahitya Akademi awards in protest of rising communal tension and intolerance in the country as well as the murder of rationalists, local writers and intellectuals expressed concern over the shrinking space for free expression in India.
The State Sahitya Akademi shares the apprehension of the writers who have compared the current atmosphere to that of Hitler’s regime. “Massive state intervention is required to quell this madness against rationalism. This fundamentalist attitude and intolerance is against the idea of India,” said Aswini Kumar Mishra, secretary of Odisha Sahitya Akademi.
Mishra also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence over the issue will only embolden right-wing fascists. “The killing of a man for eating beef in UP tells us how serious and dangerous the situation is now in the country. If right-wing fundamentalism is not stopped now, the country will implode one day like Pakistan,” Mishra said.
He said the Akademi will soon organise a seminar on scientific temper in Oriya literature to express its solidarity with rational ideas.
State Urdu Akademi secretary Daudur Rahman also felt that since the BJP government has come to power, it has provided a conducive atmosphere for the flourishing of fundamentalist ideas.
Jnanpith awardee Pratiba Ray who had to go a through defamation case filed by Puri Pandas for ten years after she had spoken out against rituals followed at the Jagannath temple admitted that she wouldn’t feel as free and guarded as she used to be while speaking out rational thoughts now.
Reader at BJB College, SN Tripathy said the returning of awards would certainly bring moral pressure upon the government to act against perpetrators of violence against rationalism.
“Yes, I do feel scared while expressing my mind. I don’t know tomorrow I can be beheaded, shot dead or abducted for calling a spade a spade,” Tripathy said.
Another academician Himanshu Mohaptra, professor of English literature at Utkal University, said that more intellectuals shall come together and express their anguish against killings such as in Dadri through whatever means they can.
Many other writers from the state, however, appeared squeamish while blaming the Central government for rising cases of intolerance and chose to stay quiet. Sitakant Mohapatra, Jnanpith awardee, said, “I reserve my opinion on the issue and I don’t like to bring them out before the public.”
