Twenty-six writers under the banner of Indian Writers’ Forum have written to Sahitya Akademi president, Chandrashekhara Kambar, urging the premier literary institution to condemn the assault by lumpen elements on writers, thinkers and artistes and their families.
Referring to the latest cases where Goa’s Sahitya Akademi award-winning writer Damodar Mauzo has been given police security following threats to his life and the decision of S. Hareesh, short-story writer from Kerala, to stop writing following threats from right-wing elements, the writers have urged the Akademi to take a bold stand on the issue.
The letter has been signed by writers including Keki Daruwalla, Nayantara Sahgal, Githa Hariharan, K. Satchidanandan, Shashi Deshpande and Sara Joseph. A copy of the letter has been marked to the Akademi secretary and says the Akademi needs to extend all possible support to Mr. Mauzo, Mr. Hareesh and other writers being victimised in the name of religion, ideology or under any other pretext.
The letter reads, “It is with a sense of considerable anxiety and dismay that we who belong to the community of writers, a community which holds fast to democratic and secular values enshrined in our Constitution, have noticed recent developments relating to writers.” The writers said it was inconceivable that a gentle, softspoken man like Mr. Mauzo should earn anyone’s ire and his case was not an isolated one. The letter said, “Only a week back, Kerala Sahitya Akademi award winner S. Hareesh withdrew his novel Meesha , which was being serialised in Matrubhumi , because of threats to him and his family.”
Recalling that many writers, artistes and scholars had protested in 2015 when Prof. Kalburgi was killed and the Akademi did not take a bold, public stand in the matter, the writers have expressed hope that this would not happen with the current dispensation.
