Should Karnataka Congress react to writers returning awards?

Bengaluru, Oct 13: When Siddaramaiah was sworn in as the Chief Minister, he met first with writers and scholars. This was quite opposed to the usual tradition where Chief Ministers first meet with religious leaders in the state.

The killing of professor M M Kalburgi and the Dadri incident has seen a series of protests with writers returning their awards.

On Monday, Kannada writers Rahamat Tarikere and Kumbar Veerabhadrappa returned their Karnataka Sahitya Academy awards in protest. The silence of the Chief Minister is under question and many have sought to know why has he not reacted.

Spokesperson of the All India Congress Committee, Brijesh Kalappa says that it is unfair to blame the Chief Minister for this.

This is not an issue that needs to be dealt with the state of Karnataka. It is between the writers and the union government. They are clearly protesting the attitude of the union and not the state government, Kalappa also added.

On the other hand, there is talk within the Congress that the party does not want to take any sides as of now. The Chief Minister does not want to interfere into the matter and let it be an issue between the centre and the writers. Saying anything as of now will look like taking sides, a Congress member says.

Kalappa adds that it is not right to say that the CM was quiet on the murder of Kalburgi. In fact he had visited Kalburgi's house the day he was murdered and has also done his best in probing the matter.

Instead of asking the Congress why it is keeping quiet, it would be better if you asked the BJP what it is doing to curb these incidents which have created such national outrage, Kalappa questions.

There are others in the Congress who feel that returning awards is not the solution. The murder of Kalburgi is being investigated and there is no attempt to hush up the probe.

Let the writers wait before they take any decision, the Congress leader also said. The leaders also said that it is unfair to seek a comment from the Congress on the Dadri incident. It has not happened in Karnataka. About the Kalburgi probe, the state is leaving no stone unturned, the leader also stated.

OneIndia News