After returning his Sahitya Akademi Award to protest alleged intolerance, retired JNU professor Chaman Lal has decided to give back an award to the HRD ministry in the wake of the raging row at the va
After returning his Sahitya Akademi Award to protest alleged intolerance, retired JNU professor Chaman Lal has decided to give back an award to the HRD ministry in the wake of the raging row at the varsity.
“I have decided to return the award containing a citation and Rs 50,000 cash conferred on me by Central Hindi Directorate, MHRD, in the year 2003 by then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for “non-Hindi speaking area Hindi writer”.
“It is to protest the home minister and the HRD minister’s attack on JNU by arresting students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar and terrorising the JNU faculty and students by dubbing them as anti-nationals through media,” Mr Lal said in a communication to JNU V-C Jagadesh Kumar.
The professor had last year returned the Hindi translation award of Punjabi poet Paash’s collection “Samay O Bhai Samay”, given to him by the Sahitya Akademi in 2002, in protest against alleged intolerance in the country.
Mr Lal said the V-C’s moral authority will take a hit if he was not able to protect the faculty members, students and staff.
“As a V-C, you are duty-bound to protect the life and limb of all its members faculty, students and staff. If you cannot, then your moral authority will be greatly affected inside JNU even if you get full outside support from the MHRD, the Home Minister or Delhi Police. Moral authority has a greater force than ‘danda’ force,” he said.
Mr Lal also termed the V-C’s move to allow police to enter the campus as a “disaster”, saying “there was no obligation of the university to allow Delhi Police to enter the campus, particularly when it had appointed its own committee to probe the matter”.
