For refusing the Sahitya Akademi award.
Novelist Arundhati Roy has turned down a national award from India’s academy of letters because she opposes the government’s policies, the Press Trust of India reported.
The novelist sent the institution a one-page fax saying she did not want to accept a prize from a body linked to the government, an academy official told PTI.
Her refusal isn’t interesting news.
What is really interesting and predictable is the exact reason(s) for her refusal. A slight digression before that.
I put a Google search for arundhati roy rejects sahitya. Seven of ten results pointed me to Leftist and Islamic web sites. Pakistan’s Daily Times covered the item in brief detail for obvious reasons. Yahoo News has perhaps been too polite (or politcally correct) in its reporting of her reasons for refusing the award. From the Daily Times:
Noted Indian author and Booker prize-winner Arundhati Roy has refused to accept this year’s Sahitya Akademi Award for her book, “The Algebra of Infinite Justice”, which is critical of the Indian control of Kashmir, Nagaland and Manipur and the rising toll of dead and disappeared in these areas. According to KMS, in a letter addressed to the Chairman of Sahitya Akademi, she said, “Even as we call ourselves a democracy, Indian forces control and administer Kashmir, Manipur and Nagaland and the numbers of the dead and disappeared continue to mount”. Arundhati Roy’s ‘The Algebra of Infinite Justice’, written between 1998 and 2001, consists of essays, deeply critical of some of the major policies of Indian governments.
That should definitely delight the Pakistani establishment to no end. She uses her verbal barrage effectively make Pakistan’s case. India should relinquish Kashmir, and the entire North East. and the Indian armed forces should be disbanded with immediate effect Her response also showcases her logical brilliance which she’s displayed on numerous occasions earlier:
“Even as we call ourselves a democracy, Indian security forces control and administer Kashmir, Manipur and Nagaland and the numbers of the dead and disappeared continue to mount”, she said.
By her reasoning, a democracy shouldn’t be allowed to maintain security forces. Or, the Indian security forces that occupy these areas fall outside the purview of the Indian state. In which case, it’d be absurd to call them “Indian security forces.” Baffling to a mere mortal like me.
Actually, I should thank the Verbal Terrorist. For refusing to further sully the Sahitya Akademi.
Postscript: It always makes me wonder why there’s no Pakistani equivalent of Arundhati Roy.
Tags: Indian Politics, Media Watch, Pseudo Secularism Hall of Shame
On 01.18.06 aami bangali says:
The idiots at Sahitya Akademi deserve this slap.
This how the people who fund the booker prize describe themselves:
“Man Group plc is a leading global provider of alternative investment products and solutions as well as one of the world’s largest futures brokers. The Group employs over 3,000 people in 15 countries, with key centres in London, Pfäffikon (Switzerland), Chicago, New York, Paris, Singapore and Sydney. Man Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EMG.L) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.”
Thw award was rejected, not because she is against the funding agency, but because she doesn’t think her fellow brown skinned Indians are capable of being her peers and judging her. She is upset by the gall of Indians who dare to judge her, even if they end up praising her.
Our madam craves the attention of the white liberal elites and only awards given by their institutions appeal to her. Ok, it is the current fashion to hate America, so she hates America with as much passion she can muster.
The white liberals can’t bear to see a confident proud brown man. The ideal brown man has to be angry at the oppression around him, he has to hate his primitive society and its weird customs so that they step in and save him by extending their support to his struggle.
However, the liberal whites are very much a part of the establishment and their anguish about their pet causes in the third world is synchronized with their government’s policy objectives. Our Arundhatis are the gunga dins whose role is to soften the prey.
On 01.18.06 Sandeep says:
Bangali,
Very well put. Your thoughts about pleasing the whites is on the spot and is treated in a lot of detail in the book Impressing the Whites by Richard Crasta.
On 01.18.06 Nitin says:
Sandeep,
I wonder why Arundhati Roy is silent about the atrocities in Balochistan? And why is Praful Bidwai quiet?
Why?
On 01.18.06 Parimal Gupta says:
Sandeep,
I think the way Pakistani media uses Roy’s articles to buttress their notions, we need to look into some of the authors from the Pakistani side as well. I know for sure that DailyTimes writer Razi Azmi can fit perfectly well in this.
I have at times conversed with Mr. Azmi over the e-mails and found him to be a man of great courage and honesty.
(Sometimes i wonder how he is still alive in the jehadi land)
He had sent me once his article attached as a word doc in an e-mail. Not sure how to send that without copy/pasting it.
But i guess if we do a simple google search with his name and DailyTimes we can find a whole lot to refer to.
On 01.19.06 Sandeep says:
Nitin,
For obvious reasons, obviously.
Parimal,
Thanks for the reference to Azmi. Unfortunately, those voices don’t get heard the way they should.
Instead of pasting his article into this comment box, you can email it to me at sandeep AT sandeepeweb DOT COM.
On 03.01.06 varnam says:
Arundhathi Roy turns humor writer
For choosing the guest for India’s Republic Day celebrations, the Foreign Office was give a specific set of criteria. First, the guest had to be a dictator and second, he had to be responsible for the death of very normal…
On 03.12.06 Bishwajit Choudhary says:
It is utter hypocrisy on behalf of Ms. Roy to accept all world prizes from countries as UK (Bookers), Australia (Sydney Peace Prize) - the countries which broke the world order to invade Iraq. I completely fail to understand how she can hate the US so much for invading Iraq and not be at cross roads with other American client states which followed it to bomb civilians in Iraq. Ms. Roy had declined the Indian Literature Award citing differences with Indian policy makers. Since when has she come so close to the Australian, British and Amecian policy makers who have violated world order, UN resolutions and whose military interventions worldwide have made more orphans than the world put together. This is heights of hypocrisy, ignorance and duplicity.
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On 06.01.06 Cynical Nerd’s says:
entire regions of our nation. Meanwhlile, the Spanish Government has announced a prize of 50,000 euros for her literary ‘contribution’. As an anarchist who does not believe in the concept of government, sherejected the UPA government’s conferring her the prestigious Sahitya Academy award. Now, let us see if she rejects the Spanish award as well since that too comes from a government-linked body. And since she supports the plea of oppressed people everywhere,
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On 04.24.07 Seriously Sandeep » Manmohan Creates History says:
[...] I read this news item several times thinking I was mistaken. This kind of stuff is the trademark of the Verbal Terrorist, not the Prime Minister of India. Anyway, what this amounts to if you chop the verbiage is: India should be blamed for terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. [...]