Arundhati: Will she?

New Delhi, Jan. 17: Smarting from Arundhati Roy’s refusal to accept its award for writing in English in 2005, the Sahitya Akademi is urging her to reconsider her decision and is even saying that the government-sponsored institution has a tradition of honouring anti-establishment writers.

But friends of the author said she was unlikely to reverse her decision. Arundhati was probably in Kashmir where she has lent support to movements by human rights organisations against atrocities by armed forces. She could not be reached immediately for her comment.

“We are going to explain (to her) that this is not a government outfit but an autonomous body. We have ourselves taken positions against the government,” its secretary K. Satchidanandan, a writer and poet himself, said.

“I have myself been critical of the government’s role during the riots in Gujarat (2002) and wrote a poem after a mosque was demolished,” he said.

“We will seek to explain what the nature of the Sahitya Akademi is. If the jury has decided to award her, it is not only because of her style of writing but they must also be finding something to sympathise with in her political ideas.”

The award was decided by a jury comprising writers and critics Balachandra Nemade, Samik Bandyopadhyay and Brinda Nebbar with Keki Daruwalla as chairperson.

They commended her collection of political essays written between 2001 and 2003 and published under the title, The Algebra of Infinite Justice. The jury described the essays as “very creative” and praised the 1997 Booker Prize winner’s “efficient use of language”.

“We had foreseen the possibility that she might refuse to accept the award but the jury still decided to honour her,” Satchidanandan said.

“If we can choose a book that is highly critical of the government for an award, it just goes to show that we can make professional judgements and do not always toe the government line. “We are only funded by the government. The government comes into the picture only because it audits our accounts,” said Satchidanandan even as he was drafting a letter to the author.