5 Nov, 2015
As the October Protests rage on – The Hindu
By Zoya Hasan
Even as this is being written, the campaign started by 40 writers returning the Sahitya Akademi awards to the government to protest against the growing climate of intolerance, is still unfolding. More and more artists, painters, filmmakers, scientists, historians and academics have joined their ranks in the past month to register their protest against intolerance. The October protests are in response to a series of incidents that have occurred in the country, violating the constitutional rights of people.
While it is difficult to pin down one incident, the Dadri lynching was perhaps a turning point for many. The Dadri lynching and the murder of prominent rationalist scholar M.M. Kalburgi and before that of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare raise disturbing questions about the new cultures of intolerance and the failure of governments at the Centre and states to stem the rising tide of hatred and prejudice. Anyone who questions any aspect of religious taboos or religious ideologies in the intellectual or artistic sphere, or in terms of ideas, food habits and lifestyle has been threatened with violence.
Read the rest: As the October Protests rage on – The Hindu
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