Returning awards insult to the nation: Anup Jalota

Jodhpur: Veteran devotional singer Anup Jalota has termed the trend of returning National and Akademi Awards in protest against "growing intolerance" an "insult" to the nation.

Jalota, 62, who was in the city to perform on an invitation of the Rajasthan Sangeet & Natak Academy, said their are better ways of expressing their protest.

"The award given to them is a National Award and returning that in protest of any issue is nothing but an insult to not only that award but the nation itself. The community could sit together and meet the President of the country in order to express their protest to ease the situation," Jalota said.

He suggested people should come out together and work towards a solution for this problem, calling it a "far better and effective move rather."

Filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee and nine others recently returned their National Awards in solidarity with FTII students.

On the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chairman, Jalota said students should give him a chance to work and then decide if he is suitable or not.

"Without letting him his work do, how could you decide that Chauhan was not a suitable choice of the post of the chairman of the FTII. He should be given a chance to work and if his work was not found satisfactory, then only the students have a right to protest," he said.