Punjabi Writer Dalip Kaur Tiwana returns ‘Padma Shri’

While around 26 Writers, Poets and Translators have returned their ‘Sahitya Akademi’ awards so far, alleging rising intolerance and communalism in the country in the wake of Kalburgi murder and Dadri lynching, another veteran Punjabi Writer, Dalip Kaur Tiwana (80) has decided to return the ‘Padma Shri’, which she had received in 2004.

While returning the award, Tiwana said, “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. 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”.