New Delhi : The Sahitya Akademi Awards 2017 were given away to writers from 23 languages here on Monday evening.
However, as a mark of protest against the murder of Haryana teenager Junaid Khan, who was killed in a train last June while returning home after Eid shopping, Malayalam writer K.P.Ramanunni gave away the award to his mother after taking Rs 3 from the total prize money of Rs 1 lakh.
Ramanunni said that the book for which he won the award is about communal harmony and said that Junaid was killed for no reason.
The family of Tamil poet Inquilab, awarded posthumously, who had earlier announced their refusal to accept the award also didn’t attend the award ceremony.
Jayanta Madhab Bora won the award in Assamese for his book “Moriahola”, Afsar Ahmed won the award in Bengali for his “Sei Nikhonj Manushta” and Rita Baro won the award in Bodo for “Thwisam”.
The award in Dogri went to Shiv Mehta for “Banna”, in English to Mamang Dai for her book “The Black Hill”, and in Gujarati to Urmi Ghanshyam Desai for her “Gujarati Vyakarana na Baso Varsha”.
The award in Hindi went to Ramesh Kuntal Megh for “Vishw Mithak, Sarit Sagar”, in Kannada to T.P. Ashoka for “Kathana Bharathi” in Kashmiri to Autar Krishen Rahbar for his “Yeli Parda Woth” and in Konkani to Gajanan Raghunath Jog for “Khand Ani Her Katha”.
In Maithili, Udaya Narayan Singh ‘Nachiketa’ won for “Jahalak Diary”, Ramanunni in Malayalam for “Daivathinte Pustakam”, Rajen Toijamba in Manipuri for his “Chahee Taret Khuntakpa”, in Marathi to Shrikant Deshmukh for “Bolave Te Amhi”, and in Nepali to Bina Hangkhim for her book Kriti Vimarsh.
The award in Odia went to Gayatri Saraf for “Etavatira Shilpi”, in Punjabi to Nachhatar for “Slow Down”, in Rajasthani to Neeraj Daiya for “Bina Hasalpai”, in Sanskrit to Niranjan Mishra for his “Gangaputravadanam”, in Santhali to Bhujanga Tudu for his book “Tahenan Tangi Re”, and in Sindhi to Jagdish Lachhani for his “Aachhende Laja Maraan”.
T.Devipriya bagged the award in Telugu for “Gaalirangu” and the award in Urdu went to Mohammed Baig Ehsas for his book “Dakhma”.
Sahitya Akademi President Chandrashekhar Kambar presented the winners with a citation, a shawl and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh.
—IANS
Hats off to Malayalam writer K.P.Ramanunni for showing this gesture of love and caring towards humanity and peaceful communal harmony.
To say the least, 3-4 years of BJP/RSS could not and shall not, God willing, take off the message of peace and blessings for ALL, and malice to NONE, brought to the land of Rama and Krishna by the traders of Arabia who brought with them their faith of Islam and place of worship (Masjid) @ the same time as in Mecca/Madina. Blessed were those who sided with them in having their place of worship side-by-side with those of other locally practiced faith, viz., Hinduism and Christianity. It was so heartening to read this post and comment on it. Keep it up my ex-co-countrymen! Bravo! May God help and guide you ever. Amen!