For the last one and a half months, leading cultural figures have been in the news as much as politicians, since the murder of 76-year-old Kannada writer MM Kalburgi on August 30.
All across the country, writers, theatre persons, filmmakers, researchers, linguists, academics, lawyers, even college students have either criticized the central or state governments, returned awards, or resigned membership from sahitya akademis, for a variety of reasons. These start with Kalburgi’s unsolved murder, and subsequent developments such as the Dadri lynching, cancellation of ghazal singer Ghulam Ali’s concert, the blackening of Sudheendra Kulkarni’s face.
But there is a slight mystery. While it is clear that this part of a possibly unprecedented phenomenon, no one actually knows how many people have commented on this publicly, or returned awards and resigned memberships.
There is a website however, that has compiled this information, and the full list is available compiled from news reports. However, it includes even those public figures who have made statements but may be awardees. So far, its 275, and counting. Check out the full list at Indian Cultural Forum.