Prominent Indian poet Gulzar returns Sahitya Award over growing intolerance
This is the only way to protest for us, he said
MUMBAI (Dunya News) – Prominent Indian poet, writer and lyricist Gulzar has said that returning Sahitya Award was the right move as they don’t have any other way to record protest against the growing intolerance under Modi’s regime.
According to details, prominent writers and professionals from the literary circles have come in protest against the growing intolerance inculcated and patronized under the current regime headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharti Janta Party (BJP).
Gulzar said he never thought there will come a time when a person’s religion will be asked even before their name.
The lyricist said that this is the only way of peaceful protest for them, adding that the intellectuals are returning the awards to condemn the extremist attitudes.
Responding to a question posed by the Indian media, Gulzar asked how the writers can do politicking, adding that the writers’ are working to keep the society active.
Also Read: Shiv Sena activists allegedly disrupt Pakistani play in India
In the recent series of threats and protests, Siv Sena extremists in Haryana’s Gurgaon area allegedly disrupted play by some Pakistani actors.
Around five to six men climbed atop the stage at an open air theatre in Gurgaon, in New Delhi’s outskirts and threatened the group of seven Pakistani actors who were staging a play “Banjh” (infertile).
"They shouted slogans like ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ and disrupted the show for about 5-10 minutes," Public Relations Officer of Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon Satbir Rohilla said as reported by Indian channel NDTV.
The show by the artistes from ‘Mass Foundation’, Lahore, he said, later resumed.
Rohilla said the concerned authorities decided against reporting the matter to the police as they did not want to “turn the troublemakers into heroes”.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Deepak Sharan said though no complaint has been registered by the organisers of the show, the matter is being investigated.
“On getting information, the police inspector of the concerned police station rushed to the scene. We have got to know of the registration number of the vehicle used by the trouble makers. The matter is under investigation,” he said.
Earlier, the Shiv Sena, a junior partner in a ruling coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Maharashtra state government, used threats to force the cancellation of an appearance in Mumbai by Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali.
Also Read: London: Kashmiris protest against Modi s UK visit
The Kashmiris on Sunday protested outside the Indian High Commission in London against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s UK visit, Dunya News reported.
According to details, the Kashmiris in the UK observed the black day and staged a loud protest outside the Indian High Commission against Modi’s UK visit.
The demonstrators chanted loud slogans against illegal occupation of Kashmir by the Indian army. The demonstration was organized by Kashmiri political and human rights activism organizations in which Kashmiris from across the Britain showed up.
The protesters demanded the United Nations (UN) to take steps to implement Security Council’s resolutions about Kashmir.
They said the occupied Kashmir has been turned into a military garrison where no one cares about human rights.
