Why 24 Indian Filmmakers Are Giving Back Their National Awards
http://time.com/4102409/arundhati-roy-saeed-mirza-national-awards-return/
Two dozen stalwarts of Indias film industry announced that they would give up prestigious national awards on Thursday, the latest in a long string of symbolic protests against the countrys growing intolerance of free speech by eminent voices from a range of fields.
The 24 individuals include prominent Indian author Arundhati Roy and veteran filmmaker Saeed Mirza as well as several others, the Indian Express reported. Announcing their decision at a news conference Thursday afternoon, they attributed it in part to "the horror at people being attacked and killed for their beliefs."
They also expressed solidarity with students from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), who recently concluded a months-long
protest against undue government interference in academia.
More than 50
writers, intellectuals, artists and
scientists have already returned awards to protest a growing climate of hostility toward dissent under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with incidents like the
lynching of Muslims for consuming beefcows are sacred to the countrys Hindu majorityas well as the
murder of a scholar who spoke out against idol worship, prompting a bulk of the fear and anger.