A Bengali author returned her award after the same academy honoured West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for her contribution to literature.
Bengali writer and folk culture researcher Ratna Rashid Banerjee returned the ‘Annada Shankar Smarak Samman’ with which she was honoured by the Paschimbanga Bangla Academy in 2019.
In a letter to Academy chairman Bratya Basu, who also serves as the state education minister, Ratna Rashid said the award has become a “crown of thorns” for her in the wake of its decision to confer a new literary award to the CM on the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.
“As a writer, I feel insulted by the move to give a literary award to the CM. It will set a bad precedent. The statement of the Academy praising the relentless literary pursuit of the honourable chief minister is a travesty of truth,” she told media.
She, however, stressed that she acknowledges the political contributions of Mamata Banerjee but those cannot be equated with the cause of literature.
“We admire and respect the CM for her political battle, the massive mandate she got from people to rule the state for three terms. We had voted for her. But I cannot equate her contribution to politics with the claim that she worked for the cause of literature. I am not aware of,” Rashid Banerjee said.
The award, introduced this year, was announced for the chief minister’s book, ‘Kabita Bitan’ a collection of over 900 poems, at the state government organised programme to celebrate the birth anniversary of Tagore on Monday.
