Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 23: A conference on the topic “India is tolerant” was held at New Delhi, in which Kashmiri Pandit writers and artists participated.
On the occasion, Chanderkanta Vashen, an internationally acclaimed Hindi writer was the chief guest, whileas MK Kaw, a prominent writer and former secretary GoI, presided over the function.
During the conference, it was observed with anguish that a cloud of anxiety, by returning national awards is being created to nurture social descent in Indian society under the grab of intolerance.
The participants said that acts like returning the national awards is challenging the prestige of national symbols. It is setting a disregard for the prestige of national recognitions and creating a discouraging environment for scholarship and creativity. The temperament of huge number of aspirants, who look to national awards with exemplariness, is dampened. A national award represents national prestige and challenging the very spirit shall be scrutinized, they added.
They stated that the KP community and other patriotic sections of the population are put on altar for unceremonious sacrifices, and when attempt is made to say “India is Tolerant”, a hue and cry was raised by the people who feel their fashion of harvesting authority and comfort has been put to scrutiny. The mode of such elements, who set definitions of tolerance/intolerance as a currency note in their pocket to buy the objectives for their personal ends need to be defeated and crushed.
The participants appealed the Government to thoroughly investigate by appropriate constitutional provisions to find the motivation, cause and course for suddenly setting in a process of returning of the national awards, to study the impact of disregard to national symbols, to identify international links that may have worked to disrepute India internationally and to quantify the benefits availed by these persons who returned the awards and recover them under appropriate laws of national liability.
The conference was organized by Arvind Shah, a well known children’s writer and translator of poems of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
More than 50 prominent writers and artists participated in the deliberation including ON Kaul, Jawahar Lal Kaul, Roop Krishen Bhat, JN Dhar, Deepak Budki, Sushil Pandit, Utpal Kaul, Ramesh Manvati, Lalit Amberdhar, Dilip Langu, Anil Nakashi, Chishul Mahaldar, etc.
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