Individual's Freedom is Being Attacked on a Daily Basis: Maya Krishna Rao

NEW DELHI: Theatre artist Maya Krishna Rao, who returned her Sangeet Natak Akademy award yesterday in protest against the Dadri lynching case and the rising intolerance in the country, said on Tuesday that attack on an individual’s freedom is taking place on a daily basis.

“I feel we are going through unusual circumstances today. I can’t remember another time where on a daily basis, somewhere there is an attack on individual, freedom of different kinds.There's an attack on freedom of different kinds like speech, custom, way of living, way of thinking, who to pray, what to eat,” Rao told ANI here.

“Questions are being raised that why haven't artists registered their protest before, I feel today's circumstances are unusual. Faith is breaking down, every day there's a new shock, new outrage, for me it's very unusual,” she added.

Rao had yesterday written a letter to the secretary of the Sangeet Natak Akademy, Helen Acharya and expressed her disappointment.

"The present government has in spite of reminders from society, done little to stand up for the right of people to express their thoughts and ideas and love the way they would choose to in a free country," she wrote.

Two eminent writers GN Devy and Aman Sethi on Sunday announced that they were returning their Sahitya Akademi awards, joining the growing protest by litterateurs over "rising intolerance" and "communal" atmosphere, and the "silence" of the Sahitya Akademi over the killing of Kannada scholar M. M. Kalburgi.

Writers returned their awards after noted Kannada author Aravind Malagatti resigned from the Sahitya Akademi's Common Council.

On Friday, acclaimed writer Shashi Deshpande had resigned from the Sahitya Akademy, while other six writers returned their Arulu Sahitya awards to the Kannada Sahitya Academy on October 3 over the delay in the arrest of the accused in the murder of eminent Kannada writer, scholar, rationalist and academic, Kalburgi.