Kannada writer Dayananda says no to award, cites murder of Kalburgi
Dayananda, who also makes films, had won the award for his debut work Raste Nakshatra. The awards were given away on Saturday.
By: Express News Service | New Delhi | January 11, 2016 2:52:20 am
A YOUNG Kannada writer, Dayananda T K, has refused to accept the Kannada Sahitya Akademi Award, citing the failure of the Karnataka government to arrest the killers of Sahitya Akademi award winner M M Kalburgi, who was shot dead in August last year.
In a letter to the Kannada Sahitya Akademi on Friday, Dayananda, who is in his 30s, cited "intolerance, which is rising by the day" in the country, and said it was impossible "to remain silent in such troubled times".
"It has been four months since the unjust murder of our own intellectual M M Kalburgi and yet there is no sign of even the minimum progress in the investigation so far. When the whole world has responded to the murder of Kalburgi, who was pro-people, it is shocking that there has neither been any major development in the case nor have investigators found any major clues in solving the case," he said.
"I cannot bring myself to accept an award in a government shamiyana and savour the payasa served on the day of the award ceremony while the government hides in a cocoon of silence."
There have been a series of protests across the country as writers have returned their awards, citing rising intolerance in the country.
Sahitya Akademi