Urdu poet Munawar Rana returns Sahitya Akademi Award, vows never to accept any govt award

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"Many areas in this country do not have an electricity connection but Muslims here are linked to Dawood Ibrahim," the poet said.
By: Express News Service
New Delhi Updated: Oct 19, 2015, 3:52
PROTESTS OF writers against “rising intolerance” in the country continued with two more writers, Urdu poet Munawwar Rana and Telugu writer Katyayani Vidmahe, returning their Sahitya Akademi awards on Sunday. Nearly 30 writers have returned their Akademi awards so far, while over a dozen have returned other awards they received from the Akademi.
Rana, who had received the award in 2014, made the annoucement during a television debate on Sunday. On the other hand, Vidmahe, a professor of Telugu at the Kakatiya University in Warangal, said it was her “responsibility” to return the award in the current situation. She had received the award in 2013 for the collection of her essays “Sahityaakashmlo Sagam”.
Rana was given the prestigious award last year for his book Shahdaba, which means a collection of beehives and includes ghazals and nazms. While earlier, Rana had maintained that returning awards was not the solution, later he decided to return the same with a vow that he would not take any “government award” in future as well.
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/urdu-poet-munawar-rana-returns-sahitya-akademi-award-on-live-tv/