Just hours after five Punjabi litterateurs returned their Sahitya Akademi Awards, Punjabi writer Dalip Kaur Tiwana on Tuesday returned her Padma Shri over rising communal violence across the country.
"In this land of Gautama Buddha and Guru Nanak Dev, the atrocities committed on the Sikhs in 1984 and on the Muslims recurrently because of communalism are an utter disgrace to our state and society," The Hindustan Times quoted Tiwana as saying.
Check out complete list of writers and poets who returned prestigious awards
"And to kill those who stand for truth and justice put us to shame in the eyes of the world and God. In protest, therefore, I return the Padma Shri award," she added.
Earlier on Tuesday, five Punjabi litterateurs -- novelist Baldev Singh Sadaknama, poets Jaswinder, Surjit Patar and Darshan Battar, and translator Chaman Lal -- had returned their Sahitya Akademi Awards.
About 25 writers and poets have returned their prestigious awards and at least five have resigned from the posts of Sahitya Akademi, the top literary body in the country.
