The ONV Kurup literary award to Tamil poet-lyricist Vairamuthu will be reconsidered. The ONV Cultural Academy, in a recent statement, on Friday revealed that the decision to reconsider the award was made on the advice of the jury.
“At the instance of the selection committee, the award is now under reconsideration,” the statement said.
Earlier, Adoor Gopalakrishnan had backed Vairamuthu, stating that the award is given for excellence in writing and not after examining a person's character.
After the ONV Cultural Academy decided the award for Vairamuthu, many celebrities and the women in cinema collective (WCC) condemned and slammed the jury for giving such a prestigious honor to a person who is facing sexual harassment charges.
In 2018, after the global #MeToo movement began, singer Chinmayi had come out with allegations of sexual harassment against Vairamuthu, following which 16 other women also levelled allegations against him.
The row
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had also stirred up a row after he shared a picture with Vairamuthu congratulating him over the award.
In a post on social media, WCC had urged jury to make the decision more sensibly.
“The #MeToo movement has brought sweeping changes across the world with so many powerful perpetrators shown the door. It led to the widespread implementation of strict laws against workplace harassment including the PoSH Act 2013 in India. In this context, we urge the jury members of ONV Literary Awards to make choices that uphold the values and dignity associated with O.N.V. Kurup, rather than honour alleged perpetrators. Is art created through harassment and cruelty to co-workers worth being celebrated? Art should not be an excuse for abuse,” said a statement from the WCC.
Writer NS Madhavan also criticised the decision and tweeted, “Adoor is so wrong when he said that the ONV award was given to Vairamuthu for his writing and not character. Remember 2018 Nobel for Literature was cancelled because there were #MeToo charges against the husband of a jury member. Be sensitive when you deal with arts, please”.
Writer KR Meera too joined and said, “He considered the poet’s life also to be part of poetry. He always made sure that his poems would not have even a word that goes against human dignity. Not even his detractors would claim that he has uttered a wrong word against any women. He has also kept away from those facing such allegations.”
The ONV Cultural Academy is headed by filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan. The patrons include Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, MT Vasudevan Nair and KJ Yesudas, and many other distinguished personalities like MA Baby, Prabha Varma, RS Babu, MK Muneer and Benoy Viswam are part of the Academy.
