The decision to withdraw the invitation to Sahgal (91), who was earlier at the forefront of the "award wapsi" campaign, was taken after a political outfit threatened to disrupt the function, the organisers said on Sunday.
Veteran writers like Nayantara Sahgal, Kiran Nagarkar and Jeet Thayil have been overlooked by the jury while shortlisting for the JCB Prize for Literature.
Two short extracts, one from the celebrated author's novel, From Fear Set
Free, and the other from a letter to her mother Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, then
ambassador to the Soviet Union
Nayantara Sahgal, who just returned her Sahitya Akademi award in protest against what she calls “the unmaking of India” on why she feels so angry and despondent