Insta
Erstwhile Sahitya Akademi Chief talking to protesters who claimed intolerance was rising (Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Former Sahitya Akademi president Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari has alleged that the Award Wapsi movement, was a politically motivated campaign organised by Marxists, Economic Times has reported.
Tiwari has made these claims in his article titled, “The truth of award-wapsi and the hypocrisy behind it” which was published in the magazine Dastavez.
The Award Wapsi movement famously emerged in 2015 when about 50 writers returned their awards in protest of what they claimed was ‘rising intolerance’ under the Narendra Modi government.
Tiwari now claims that this was a politically motivated affair planned by Marxist writers and Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi, to defame the Modi government ahead of the Bihar assembly elections.
He wrote that the four-month long campaign was promoted by writers, some of whom had a hatred towards Modi, a few wanted to defame the government and others were looking for publicity.
He also claimed that he has evidence to prove that Award Wapsi was a brainchild of five writers, most of whom had been holding anti-Modi sabhas before he became Prime Minister.
In his article he published text messages and letters he received from various writers who claim that they were being pressurised by their colleagues to join the movement.
Poet Ashok Vajpeyi has denied Tiwari’s claims but the latter has stuck to his guns and claimed that he wrote the article to bring out the real face of writers who called themselves, “champions of free speech”.
Support Swarajya's 50 Ground Reports Project & Sponsor A Story
Every general election Swarajya does a 50 ground reports project.
Aimed only at serious readers and those who appreciate the nuances of political undercurrents, the project provides a sense of India's electoral landscape. As you know, these reports are produced after considerable investment of travel, time and effort on the ground.
This time too we've kicked off the project in style and have covered over 30 constituencies already. If you're someone who appreciates such work and have enjoyed our coverage please consider sponsoring a ground report for just Rs 2999 to Rs 19,999 - it goes a long way in helping us produce more quality reportage.
You can also back this project by becoming a subscriber for as little as Rs 999 - so do click on this links and choose a plan that suits you and back us.
Click below to contribute.
Latest