India's Most Expensive Literary Award Shut Down

In a decade where distortion is a cultural trend, we should focus on reconstructing what has been eroded and eroding whatever causes demolition, at both the physical and the psychological levels. In 2021, Amnesty International covered the news about the fall of a hundred-year-old mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district. In 2023, a mosque built in the 16th century was razed to the ground to broaden a road in Allahabad (now Prayagraj).

Similarly, in a report from early 2022, reporters from Amnesty International provided data about the demolition of over 300 homes which then escalated into the displacement of 600 families and the loss of their livelihoods, in the second half of the same year. The riot in Delhi was a major consequence of this action and messy communal politics was at work. In all these actions,  J.C. Bamford Excavators Limited (JCB) became the primary tool of the establishment. A company that was established in the United Kingdom solidifies the idea that we are still not free of colonial arms.

The same company is also said to be involved with the Israeli government in displacing Palestinians from their homes. Companies are entities that only work for profit and chaos. This is one of the many reasons why in the Middle East, the company is reportedly being used by Iranians, Israelis and Americans to dismantle dreams, slaughter hope, destroy the homes of Palestinians, Iraqis and Afghans. Before 2021, many governments in India used the same company to ‘cleanse’ the land of the homes of countless tribal communities of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana, the Sundarbans and Odisha. In Manipur, the same company has been operating for many years to carve up the land. Its aftermath is the absolute distancing between the Kukis and the Meiteis. 

Hypocrisy and a Cover-up

An institution that works to destroy human hope always plans for a cover-up. It is a necessity for them to stay relevant in society. For example, when dynamite which was initially mainly used for mining purposes, was turned into a weapon to kill innocents during both the World Wars, Swedish society initiated the Nobel Prize named after the inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel,  and started to honour scientists, scholars and artists to build a strong cover-up. Godmen build hospitals, schools and several other ‘moral’ institutions to either invest their non-taxable money in something to earn a profit or to sustain their identity of holiness before their followers. JCB was aware of its actions, and so it seems to have established an award in the hope of making people forget what it was doing. 

The JCB Prize for Literature, launched in 2018, with time, became an important honour for Indian writers and translators. The entire literary community started revolving around this award and its money and glamour.  Very little was said about how problematic the idea of the award was. In 2019, the award was given to Madhuri Vijay for her book The Far Field, which addresses the politics of Kashmir from the lens of a family and its people. Ironically, the JCB company played a major role in the politically driven cleansing of several Kashmiris from their homes. Peter Frankental, Amnesty International UK’s Economic Affairs Director, said, “If JCB fails to act over Kashmir it would be another example of the company falling short of its obligation to conduct proper human rights due diligence over how its machines are being used around the world”. In the same year of Vijay getting the award, several Kashmiris took to the streets and protested against the government and JCB since neither of them had provided any prior notice before razing their homes. 

In 2021, the prize was given to M. Mukundan for his novel Delhi: A Soliloquy, which speaks about the migrants and refugees of Delhi. The book deserved the acclaim it won since it is well-written and gives a voice to the people who had to stay hidden behind tarpaulins during the visits of major international figures to the capital. Unfortunately, the institution that bestowed the prize on Mukundan became the government’s weapon when the authorities asked it to clean an entire slum within a span of two days in 2023. The people who participated in the protest against this action subscribed to the literary prize given by the company. Despite several damning Amnesty International’s reports, the prize stayed operational and held many in the literary community of India under its sway. The award projected itself as caring, compassionate and charismatic (a rip-off of the West). Thus, when someone sees the JCB Prize for Literature as the Booker Prize of India, it is not surprising. The surprise thrives in the utter ignorance of the contradiction that is so evident.

Perumal Murugan’s novel Fire Bird received the JCB Prize in 2023. This was the same year the company’s bulldozers displaced a large number of people in India and in the Middle East. A book that speaks about displacement, settlement and oppression received a prize, but the lives that were destroyed within a span of six months were forgotten. It becomes both sad and amusing to notice how intellectuals subscribed to an award given by an entity whose owners do the exact opposite of what they think humanity should be doing. It makes the dialogue Joker spat out before Batman in the movie The Dark Knight an explosive reality. He says: You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve. 

The Atmosphere of Capitalism 

The winner of the JCB Prize for Literature was provided a prize money of Rs. 25 lakhs, which is not a negligible amount. We forget to address the fact that the same prize money was soaked in tears and uprooted hope. We dissent against the improper usage of money in temples, mosques and other so-called charitable organisations. But we maintain our civility when writers with publications from big publishing houses receive a sum that is equivalent to fifty MUDRA loans and at least seven small CC loans. The former being the biggest cause of defaulters in banks, and the latter only meant for ‘good’ businesses. The houses which the JCB company demolishes cost two lakh rupees (if they are made under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana). And if they are not made under this scheme, then on an average, a person has to invest Rs 60,000 to have walls made of bamboo and a floor made of mud. The act of providing the prize money of Rs 25 lakh to a writer resembles every heinous act governments undertake in order to keep citizens silent. An action like this can only be found in a place and time when the idea of capitalism becomes normal and even intellectuals start accepting its gory demons.

To keep the atmosphere of capitalism alive, the award stayed functional and operative for writers and publishers who have a hold in the market. The big publishers of India looked forward to winning it. From the perspective of the publishers, this move was not wrong since they have to amplify their own market. But whenever an award is identified as a reputable one in the literary community, it has to broaden its periphery. The JCB Prize for Literature failed to do so. Only two books from small publishing houses were shortlisted for this award, which had made such an impact on the minds of writers and on the literary community at large.  

The Shut Down

Being empathetic and compassionate towards an award and the literary community is good in a time of division. But, at the same time, we need to understand that more than 128 intellectuals signed a letter against the existence of JCB Prize for Literature. This is not a prize that has been forcefully shut down by the establishment or, to be precise, by the government. People came forward and signed against its hypocrisy and cover-ups. A move of empathy regarding its loss is an act of questioning the dissent of writers who raised their voices against injustice and oppression. In times of oppression, compassion towards a destructive entity of society makes the entire emotional act appear dichotomous. The intention of the JCB Prize for Literature hardly matters when its activities, in these seven years, became the reason for collective anger.