By Express News Service
KOLKATA: A Bengali folk culture researcher and writer returned an award given by the Pashimbanga Bangla Academy as a mark of protest against the academy’s decision to confer a special award to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her contribution to Bengali literature.
Ratna Rashid Banerjee returned the Annada Shankar Smarak Samman with which she was honoured by the Academy in 2019 saying she felt ‘insulted’ by the Academy’s move to give a literary award to the CM.
“We admire and respect the CM for her political struggle, the mandate she got from people to rule the state for three terms. But I cannot equate her contribution to politics with the claim that she worked for the cause of literature. As a writer, I feel insulted by the Academy’s move,” she said.
The special award, introduced this year, was announced for the Chief Minister’s book Kabita Bitan, a collection of over 900 poems at an event organised by the state government on the occasion of Rabindranath Tagore’s 161st birth centenary. Though Mamata was present at the event, the award was handed over to Academy chairman Bratya Basu.
The special award is conferred every three years.
Expressing her concern that the Academy’s decision will set a bad precedent, Ratna said, “The CM should have shown her maturity by not accepting the award after it was announced by the Academy chairman,” she said.
Ratna from Burdwan district has written over 30 books of articles and short stories. She has also done research on Bengal’s folk culture highlighting the marginalised sections of society.
“The Bangla Academy has decided to reward those who have been working tirelessly for the betterment of literature as well as other segments of the society. It is unfortunate that an awardee returned the honour only because the Chief Minister was given the special award,” said Academy chairman Basu.
Bengali poet Subodh Sarkar, who is also a member of the board that selects the panel of awardees, said it was an individual’s choice whether he or she would return the award conferred by the Academy.
