Even as another writer in Karnataka returned his Sahitya Academi award, there is another group of writers who feel that such a means of protest was not in the right spirit.

On Monday, author and professor at Kannada University in Hampi Rahamath Tarikere joined the list of writers who have returned their Akademi awards. In a letter to the President of the Akademi, he said he was returning the award because of the body’s silence on the murder of MM Kalburgi, and the increasing intolerance all over the country.

Earlier on Sunday, writer Kum Veerabhadrappa had returned his award stating similar reasons.

Vice-president of the Sahitya Akademi and writer Chandrashekar Kambar however, feels that the furore against the centre is misplaced. He was of the opinion that returning the award was not right as awardees were selected by a panel that had nothing to do with the Akademi.

In an interview to The Hindu, Kambar said, “What is the point in returning the award? We should not hit the wrong target.”

Another scholar Arvind Malagatti had resigned as a member of the Executive Committee last week. This leaves just one member from the state in the committee. The other was MM Kalburgi, who was murdered.

CM’s appeal

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has appealed to writers not to return their awards, saying that it would not achieve anything. He said that the police was doing all it could to investigate the case.