Urdu writers Shireen Dalvi and Yaqoob Yawar said on December 12 that they will return their awards to express their objection over the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

Shireen Dalvi is a 47-year-old Mumbai-based Urdu journalist and has been the editor of the now-closed Urdu daily Awadhnama, based in Lucknow. In 2011, she received a special award conferred by the Maharashtra Rajya Urdu Sahitya Akademi in recognition of her literary contribution.

Yaqoob Yawar is a 67-year-old writer, translator and the former head of the Urdu department at Banaras Hindu University. He has received the UP Urdu Academy’s Lifetime Achievement award for translation in 2018.

“It’s an attack on the fundamental rights of the people of India,” Dalvi told The Indian Express, terming CAB “inhuman” and “unconstitutional”. She stated she was “returning the award to join the voices of my community” and others fighting for secularism and democracy.

The Wire published an article on Thursday, where Dalvi said that the Bill discriminated against a section of people on the basis of religion, which goes against the Constitution.

“As citizens of India, we are all entitled to equal rights,” she said. The decision to return the award was her chhota sa ehtejaj (little act of protest).

Also Read: Two Dead, Nine Injured, Shops Vandalized: Assam’s Protest Against CAB Intensifies