Unhappy with Karnataka Govt, Kannada writer refuses to accept Sahitya Akademi award

Bengaluru, Jan 11: Citing displeasure over Karnataka Government's failure to arrest the killers of Sahitya Akademi Awardee writer MM Kalburgi, a young Kannada writer, Dayananda TK, has refused to accept the Kannada Sahitya Akademi Award.

Eminent Kannada writer MM Kalburgi was shot dead in August last year and the investigators haven't succeeded in arresting the killers or find the motive of the writer's murder.

As per a report published in The Indian Express, Dayananda, who also makes films, had won the award for his debut work Raste Nakshatra. The awards were conferred on Saturday.

As per the news daily, in a letter to the Kannada Sahitya Akademi on Friday, Dayananda 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."

Earlier last year, several writers, thinkers and scientists returned their awards and refused to accept the government awards citing rise of intolerance in the country following death of MM Kalburgi. Their action triggered a massive debate over 'intolerance' in the country.

OneIndia News