It’s the season to return awards. Now, novelist and short-story writer of contemporary Punjabi literature, Dalip Kaur Tiwana, has returned the Padma Shri, fourth highest civilian award, she was conferred with in 2004, reported The Times of India . A 1971 Sahitya Akademi awardee, she is the 12th writer to give up her award in the last three days.
“In this land of Gautama Buddha and Guru Nanak Dev, the atrocities committed on the Sikhs in 1984 and on the Muslims recurrently because of communalism are an utter disgrace to our state and society. And to kill those who stand for truth and justice put us to shame in the eyes of the world and God. In protest, therefore, I return the Padma Shri award,” Dalip Kaur Tiwana said in a statement, reported Hindustan Times .
Earlier on Tuesday, five Punjabi litterateurs — novelist Baldev Singh Sadaknama, poets Jaswinder, Surjit Patar and Darshan Battar, and translator Chaman Lal — had returned their Sahitya Akademi Awards, PTI reported.
Looks like Twitter is where the actual battle is being fought:
Rushdie was flooded with a barrage of hate messages following the above tweet. But he came right back at them with another tweet:
Some are using humour to make a point:
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