Late Tamil poet Inquilab has been selected for Sahitya Akademi award – 2017 posthumously, but his family has decided against accepting it in order to honour him.

Inquilab has won the award for his collection of poems ‘Kaandhal Naatkal’, but his family refused to accept it saying Inquilab is a person who voiced for the oppressed, underprivileged and backward people and quoting his words said he did not write expecting awards and felicitations, instead foresaw oppositions, condemnations and repulsions.

“Inquilab was not ready to accept any awards by the government during his lifetime. He strongly refused any awards. Violence, communalism and oppression are on the rise. People criticising and questioning the powers-that-be are being executed. To accept the award will be a betrayal to his writings and life led by Inquilab,”his family said in a statement.

They also said the late poet has faced a lot of interrogations during his lifetime and also after his death and was not ready to accept any award during his lifetime.

A strong advocate of Tamil nationalism and a Marxist-Leninist by ideology, Inquilab, who taught Tamil in New College in Chennai, died on December 1, 2016.