Sahitya Akademi award winner Mridula Garg does not want writers to return their awards

Several writers and artists are returning their Sahitya Akademi awards in protest over issues like the murder of eminent Kannada writer MM Kalburgi, "communal poison" and "rising intolerance" in the country. Nayantara Sahgal, Kashmiri writer Ghulam Nabi Khayal, Urdu novelist Rahman Abbas and Kannada writer- translator Srinath DN are a few of the growing number of writers registering their protest.

But Sahitya Akademi award winner and noted Hindi writer Mridula Garg took a different stance. In a statement given to a leading English daily, she said that by returning their awards writers were equating the Akademi, an autonomous body, to the government.

Speaking to dna, Akademi secretary K Srinivasarao, said that he had only got four letters informing him of resignation or of awards being returned. "We have received letters from Uday Prakash, Ashok Vajpeyi and e-mails from Aman Sethi and GN Devy. The other resignations I am hearing about in the media," he said.

Mridula Garg fears that if writers kept resigning from the Akademi board, the government will take the cue and might appoint their own representative. Therefore, she urged writers to wait for Akademi's emergency meeting instead of hurrying to dissolve it by resigning.