Sachidanandan quits Akademi, Sarah Joseph returns award

Trivandrum: Writers from Kerala joined the protests against the recent killings over ideology in India with three writers, including poet K Sachidanandan, resigning from all positions in the Sahitya Akademi and novelist Sarah Joseph deciding to return the Akademi award she got in 2013.
Satchidanandan, a pioneer of modern poetry in Malayalam, tendered his resignation from the executive board and general council of the premier institution of letters, while the other two-P K Parakkadavu and Dr K S Ravikumar-have resigned from its Advisery Board mainly in protest against its failure to stand by the writers over the killings of rationalists and writers M.M. Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.
Sarah Joseph, who is also a member of the Aam Admi Party (AAP), is more concerned about the silence maintained by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for nearly 10 days on the killing of the murder of Dadri resident Mohammad Akhlaq over rumours of eating beef.
Two other Akademi award winners from the state Sugathakumari and M T Vasudevan Nair also registered strong protests against the incidents but said they will not return the awards which they got long time ago. Sugathakumari said she will protests against the attack on the freedom of expression in other ways.
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• India