"Annada Shankar Smarak Samman" returned in objection against literary honour given to Mamata Banerjee

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• May 11, 2022 | Poonam Nath

Ratna Rashid Banerjee has returned the Academy's 'Annada Shankar Smarak Samman,' which she received in 2019.

Digital Desk:  A Bengali writer and folk culture researcher withdrew an award from the Paschimbanga Bangla Academy on Tuesday in protest of the Academy's decision to offer Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a special award for her service to the cause of literature.

Ratna Rashid Banerjee has returned the Academy's 'Annada Shankar Smarak Samman,' which she received in 2019.

In a letter to Academy Chairman Bratya Basu, the education minister, Banerjee said that the honour had become a "crown of thorns" for her due to the Academy's decision to confer a new literary prize on the CM Rabindranath Tagore's birth anniversary.

"In the letter, they informed me of my decision to return the award immediately. "As a writer, the decision to award a literary prize to the CM is insulting. It will be a bad precedent.

Rashid Banerjee said that the statement by the Academy praising the incessant literary pursuit of the honourable chief minister was a travesty.

This year's award was presented for the chief minister's book, "Kabita Bitan", a collection of more than 900 poems. It was announced at the Monday state government-organized programme to commemorate Tagore's birth anniversary. 

"We admire and value the CM for her political struggle and the huge mandate she received from the people to run the state for three terms. We had voted in her favour.

However, I can't equate her political contribution with the claim she worked for literature. Rashid Banerjee stated, "I am not aware of."

She stated that the chief minister could have displayed maturity and refused to accept the award after it was announced in her presence by Bratya Basu, the Academy Chairman.

She has also researched the folk culture, especially those from the most marginalized sections of society. Basu said Monday that the Bangla Academy had decided to reward those who work tirelessly for literature's advancement and other areas of society.

At the 2020 International Kolkata Book Fair, the CM's book, titled 'Kabita Bitan,' was published.

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