CHANDIGARH: The winners of Bhartiya Sahitya Akademi Award in Punjabi including Sirmour Shire Dr Mohanjit, eminent thinker Dr Jaswinder Singh and Punjabi playwright and editor of Punjabi Tribune Swarajbir have returned their awards to show support for farmers, said Central Punjabi Writers' Association on Friday.

"It may be recalled that earlier a large number of Punjabi writers had protested against the attitude of such a tyrannical government on the question of freedom of expression by withdrawing the Academy Award. Today again when the Government of India, instead of accepting the legitimate demands of the farmers, is rolling them on the streets in the harsh winter, Punjabi writers are protesting at the national level by returning the honour," CPWA said in an official letter.

Yesterday, Former Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch Parkash Singh Badal returned the Padma Vibhushan award "in protest" against the "betrayal of the farmers by the Government of India" and for the "shocking indifference and contempt" with which the government is treating the ongoing peaceful and democratic agitation of the farmers.

Badal wrote that betrayal of the farmers by the government like "bolts from the blue on the already beleaguered peasantry of the country" added that "farmer finds himself waging bitter struggles in the severe cold just to secure his fundamental right to live."

The farmers are protesting against The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.