Intense protests have started from different parts of India over the awarding of Bangla Academy Award to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Folklore researcher and writer Ratna Rashid Bandyopadhyay has protested by returning the ‘Annadashankar Roy Samman’ received from Bangla Academy.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .On 26 July 2019, Ratna Rashid Bandyopadhyay was awarded the Annadashankar Memorial on behalf of the Bangla Academy. At the same time, Anadiranjan Biswas, a resident of Andaman, has resigned from the Bangla Advisory Council of Bangla Sahitya Academy.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has received a special award from the Bangla Academy for her relentless pursuit of literature on the 25th of Baishakh. This special award named after West Bengal Bangla Academy was first introduced from this year. The Bangla Academy decided that this award would be given to those who are constantly pursuing literature, even after working tirelessly with success in various fields of society. And in the first year, the Bangla Academy handed over this special award to Mamata Banerjee for her book of poetry ‘Kabita Bitan’.
Meanwhile, after giving this award to Mamata, intense criticism started. Social media is full of satirical memes. From the film director Prashant Bandyopadhyay to the actress Srilekha Mitra, the culturally minded people of West Bengal protested directly or in a funny way.
Leaders of opposition political parties have also been vocal in their criticism. There was also sarcasm from a section of netizens. At one point, the demand for awarding the Nobel Prize to Mamata Banerjee for poetry came up on Facebook. The situation has reached such a stage that the grassroots leaders have to sit down to explain Mamata’s verses like ‘Hare Koro Kamba, Garu Dake Hamba’ or ‘Abba Dabba Jabba’.
Folklore researcher and writer Ratna Rashid Bandyopadhyay wrote a letter to the Bangla Academy expressing his displeasure over the humiliation of the whole incident. Insulted. ‘
Anadiranjan Biswas, one of the members of the Bangla Advisory Board, wrote in a letter seeking his resignation, saying, “The incident that took place on the 25th of Baishakh this year is an insult to the world of Bengali poetry.”
