?"India Will Turn Into A Graveyard Of Creativity"

?We ?strongly condemned the rising trend of intolerance in the country which threatens freedom of expression thus threatening the age-old liberal and all-encompassing philosophical traditions of this country.

We are greatly disturbed? ?by the recent murders of the rationalist intellectuals ?— Dabholkar, Pansare & Kalburgi ?— followed by the recent lynching of a Muslim man over suspected beef eating. Rightwing fanatics have disrupted a music concert, and a book release by a Pakistani writer.

During the last eighteen months in particular, rabid fundamentalist forces have torn apart composite cultural mosaic of this country. If not contained, they will turn this country into a graveyard of creativity. This will kill scientific temperament, and the ongoing literary and cultural renaissance, ultimately stalling the economic progress of this nation.

Economic progress as witnessed in the United States of America is not just due to economic reforms. The fountainhead of Silicon Valley is the liberal, tolerant and forward-looking perspective of the society.

Konkani Sahitya Akademi awardees have shown their solidarity to those who have returned the awards or resigned from the membership in protest.??

However, to express our concern in one solid voice and to demand from Sahitya Akademi the official condemnation of the threats to our fundamental rights is more imperative at this juncture.

Now, that the President of Sahitya Akademi has convened an Extra Ordinary Executive Council Meeting next week, we are hopeful that Sahitya Akademi will unequivocally condemn the murders of intellectuals, and scuttling of freedom of expression, and will demand stringent government measures against the growing cultural terrorism that suffocates the literary & cultural expression of the creative artists of this great country.

Some of us wanted to return the awards but we have withheld the decision in view of Sahitya Akademi’s incoming Executive Council meeting where the Akademi is hopefully expected to condemn the cultural Talibanism in the country.

?Signed by:

Sahitya Akademi Award winning ?uthors from Goa who include senior poet Nagesh Karmali, Novelist Damodar Mauzo, Pundalik Naik, N. Shivdas, Datta Damodar Naik, Ramesh Veluskar, Meena Kakodkar, Hema Naik, Dilip Borkar, Gokuldas Prabhu, Mahabaleshwar Sail, Prakash Padgaonkar, Arun Sakhardande and Tukaram Seth ??and Padmashri awardees Maria Aurora Couto and Amitav Ghosh?