DMK Leader Karunanidhi and Ramadoss criticize Prime Minister on his silence over writers returning Sahiya Akademi awards.

DMK Leader Karunanidhi showed concern over the increasing number of writers returning the Sahitya Akademi awards and criticized Prime Minister for maintaining silence on this issue.

In a statement, Karunanidhi said, “When Modi took over as PM, many people thought the Hindutva issues would not be back. But now in recent times, people who are in power are keeping quiet instead of speaking out on these issues,” according to The Times of India report.

Relating to the incident, he also spoke about the murders of writers, social activists MM Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar and said that the return of Sahitya Akademi award was a protest against “growing intolerance in the country”.

On the other hand, PMK leader S Ramadoss said that the act of returning the awards was an expression of people’s resentment and condemned the murder of rationalists. He also said that the “The government should understand that it is akin to emission of heat and gas ahead of a volcanic eruption It should feel ashamed of the writers' protests,“ he said adding that the recent developments were not a good sign”, according to TOI.

So far, Nayantara Sahgal and Ashok Vajpayee have returned their Akademi awards. Shashi Deshpande and Malayalam writer K Satchidanandan resigned from the General Council of the Sahitya Akademi.