Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 19: The Congress has kicked up an unsavoury controversy by criticising the government’s decision to award the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 to the Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh-based publisher of social and Hindu mythological books “Gita Press” which is celebrating centenary of its foundation this year.
The Union Ministry of Culture had in a statement on Sunday said a jury headed by the Prime Minister “unanimously decided to select Gita Press, Gorakhpur, as the recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2021, in recognition of its outstanding contribution towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods”.
The ‘Gandhi Peace Prize’ is an annual award instituted by the Government of India in 1995, on the occasion of the 125th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Its recipients are entitled to a prize money of Rs 1 crore, a citation, a plaque, and an “exquisite traditional handicraft/handloom item.”
The announcement turned into the latest ideological flashpoint between the central government and the Opposition and following criticism of the decision by the Congress and its ally the Rashtriya Janata Dal, multiple Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders including sitting and former Union ministers targeted the Congress and other Opposition parties for objecting to the jury’s decision to confer the prize on Gita Press.
Congratulating the publisher for the award, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Monday morning, “the publisher, one of the world’s largest, has done “commendable work” over the last 100 years.” I congratulate Gita Press, Gorakhpur on being conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize 2021. They have done commendable work over the last 100 years towards furthering social and cultural transformations among the people.”
“Gandhi Peace Prize 2021 recognizes the important and unparalleled contribution of Gita Press in contributing to collective upliftment of humanity, which personifies Gandhian living in true sense,” a government release said.
The Gita Press, however, has declined to accept the cash prize of Rs one crore and said it would only accept the citation of the award. The publisher announced Monday that it would only accept the citation and has suggested that the government should spend the cash reward amount elsewhere.
Following criticism of the central government by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh for conferring the prize on Gita Press, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Kumar Jha too criticised the jury headed by Modi.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh slammed the Centre for awarding the Gandhi Peace Prize to Gita Press saying the “decision is really a travesty and is like awarding Savarkar and Godse.” He cited journalist Akshaya Mukul’s book Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India to say that the book “unearths the stormy relations it had with the Mahatma and the running battles it carried on with him on his political, religious & social agenda.”
His tweet opened the floodgate for the BJP leaders’ attack on the Congress painting it as an “anti-Hindu party” and some even questioned the Shiv Sena (UBT) faction how long the party want to remain in the “Maha Vikas Aghadi” joining hands with the Congress which was repeatedly insulting its ideologue VD Savarkar.
Even a section of the Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh are learnt to be unhappy over Jairam Ramesh’s criticism of Gita Press, which they said, had made immense contributions to the Hindi literary field.
RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha, while stating that one cannot deny its contribution to literature, asked what Gita Press — the world’s largest publisher of Hindu religious text since 1923 — had done for the promotion of peace to deserve the prize. “What kind of social and cultural transformation have they brought? They have done good work but what is their contribution to peacebuilding? There are certain parameters involved in selecting the organisation. If you were keen to promote Gita Press, you could’ve given them any amount but don’t associate with them Gandhi’s name,” Jha told reporters Monday.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hit out at the Congress in a strongly worded tweet. He accused the party of “unleashing a war against India’s civilisational values and rich legacy.” “With the win in Karnataka, Congress has now openly unleashed a war against India’s civilisational values and rich legacy, be it in the form of repeal of anti-conversion law or criticism against Gita Press. People of India will resist this aggression and reassert our civilisation values with equal aggression,” he tweeted.
Other BJP leaders also slammed Ramesh and called Congress a “Hindu hating party.” A spokesperson also taunted Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray for allying with the grand old party even when it allegedly attacks Hindus, Hindutva, and even Savarkar, who Thackeray has called his God. “Congress has sheer hatred for anything Hindu. From Hindu terror to opposing Ram Mandir to Bhagwa terror to blaming Hindus for 26/11 & now attacking Gita Press. Congress = Hindu hating party! They wanted to ensure Ram Mandir is never built
Does Uddhav Sena agree with their attack on Hindus, Hindutva and even on Savarkar?” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla tweeted. “Congress hates Gita Press because is spread the real message of Sanatan & Hinduism to every nook and corner,” Poonawalla said in another tweet attacking Congress. “Congress finds Muslim league as secular but Gita Press is communal, Zakir Naik is shanti ka messiah but Gita Press is communal,” he added, referring to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s recent comments defending his party’s Kerala ally.
Responding to the criticism, Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture, Meenakashi Lekhi, accused the Congress of denying the “core values of an inclusive society” and asked “which side” the party was on. In a tweet Monday, Lekhi said Hanuman Prasad Poddar — the founder of Gita Press — was a “revolutionary arrested by the British” and that Govind Ballabh Pant later recommended him for a Bharat Ratna.
“It’s first journal Kalyan fought for Dalit entry in temples. Low cost publications helped people retain their faith & pride. British considered these acts seditious & such acts of expression by Hindus are opposed by the likes of PFI in modern India,” remarked Lekhi.
Senior BJP leader and former MP Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said if it were up to the Congress, all awards and recognitions would land into the kitty of “one family”. Do Congress leaders questioning the move even know about the contributions of the Gita Press, he asked.
Former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad went further to allege that the Congress is a party of people with a “Maoist” mindset. Commenting that one cannot expect anything else from a party that “created hurdles on the path to the construction of Ram Temple and opposed (law against) Triple Talaq”, he asked, “What can be more shameful than their comment on the Gandhi Peace Prize to Gita Press?”
“We condemn this…I would like to say with a heavy heart that a party that governed the country now has people with a Maoist mindset, they are advisers of Rahul Gandhi too…This should be opposed by the entire country,” Prasad said.
