Mamata Banerjee Receives Literary Honor : Author Returns Award
A Bengali writer and folk culture researcher returned an award from the Paschimbanga Bangla Academy on Tuesday in protest of the academy’s decision to give Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a special award for her contribution to the cause of literature.
Ratna Rashid Banerjee has returned the Academy’s ‘Annada Shankar Smarak Samman,’ which she received in 2019.
Banerjee claimed in a letter to Academy Chairman Bratya Basu, who is also the education minister, that the award has become a “crown of thorns” for her as a result of the Academy’s decision to confer a new literary award on the CM on Rabindranath Tagore’s birth anniversary.
“I informed them in the letter of my decision to return the award with immediate effect.”
“As a writer, I am offended by the decision to give the CM a literary award. It will create a negative precedent. “The Academy’s statement praising the honourable chief minister’s relentless literary pursuit is a travesty of truth,” Rashid Banerjee told PTI.
The award, which was instituted this year, was presented to the chief minister for his book, ‘Kabita Bitan,’ a collection of over 900 poems, at a state government-sponsored event commemorating Tagore’s birth anniversary on Monday. The award was given to Basu on behalf of the CM, who was present at the event.
“We admire and respect the Chief Minister for her political struggle and the massive mandate she received from the people to rule the state for three terms. We had cast our votes for her. However, I cannot equate her political contributions with her claim to have worked for the cause of literature. Rashid Banerjee stated, “I am not aware of.”
The chief minister could have shown maturity by declining the award after it was announced in her presence by Academy Chairman Bratya Basu, according to the author, who has written over 30 books of articles and short stories.
She has also conducted research on folk culture, particularly that of marginalised groups in society.
On Monday, Basu said, “The Bangla Academy has decided to reward those who work tirelessly for the betterment of literature as well as other sectors of society.”At the 2020 International Kolkata Book Fair, the CM’s book, ‘Kabita Bitan,’ was released.
Picture Courtesy: Google/Images are subject to copyright
