Spare me Congress vs BJP debate: Arundhati Roy on why she's returning her National Award

Looks like the heat that the Centre is facing over the intolerant attitude of right-wing groups will not ebb anytime soon. Author, director, journalist Arundhati Roy has become the latest to join the bandwagon of eminent personalities to return their awards. But Roy did it in style. In her letter to The Indian Express , Roy said that she feels extremely proud to return her award as part of the political movement by academicians, writers and filmmakers who have risen up against “ideological viciousness”. Making it clear at the start of her letter that she was hardly shocked by “what is being called the growing intolerance”. [caption id=“attachment_2496318” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Author Arundhati Roy. Image courtesy: Agencies[/caption] Roy added that the condition in India has gone beyond political debate and it is no more a tug-of-war between the Congress and the BJP. The author pointed out that she had returned her Sahitya Akademi award in 2005, and said “please spare me that old Congress-versus-BJP debate. It has gone way beyond all that.”

Social media picked up the column soon after its release and hailed the author’s decision of returning the award, the way she wrote the letter. But what got the most attention was the “post script.”

Fifty-five-year old Roy won the national award in 1989 for best screenplay for the film In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones. She has also received the Booker Prize for her book The God of Small Things.