New Delhi: Gorakhpur-based Gita Press becoming the recipient of the ‘Gandhi Peace Prize’ for the year 2021 has turned into the latest ideological flashpoint between the central government and the Opposition.
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 Prime Minister Narendra Modi which “after due deliberations on 18 June” reached a “unanimous” decision to honour the 100-year-old publisher.
Responding to the criticism, 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.
Gita Press spokesperson Ashutosh Upadhyay told ThePrint that the publisher welcomes the award and is grateful to the Prime Minister, but refused to comment on the political reactions to the jury’s decision.
The Ministry of Culture had in a statement 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”. Past awardees include ISRO, Ramakrishna Mission, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, Vivekananda Kendra (Kanyakumari), Akshaya Patra (Bengaluru), Ekal Abhiyan Trust and Sulabh International (New Delhi).
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Gita Press becomes flashpoint
Criticising the jury for its decision, Congress’s Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet Sunday that that 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”.
The Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 has been conferred on the Gita Press at Gorakhpur which is celebrating its centenary this year. There is a very fine biography from 2015 of this organisation by Akshaya Mukul in which he unearths the stormy relations it had with the Mahatma and the… pic.twitter.com/PqoOXa90e6
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) June 18, 2023
In his book, Mukul argued that the “ideas articulated by Gita Press and its publications played a critical role in the formation of a Hindu political consciousness, indeed a Hindu public sphere”.
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.
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.
The founder of Geeta press was Hanuman Prasad Poddar Ji, a revolutionary arrested by British. Govind Vallabh Pant recommended him for Bharat Ratna . It’s first journal Kalyan fought for Dalit entry in temples. Low cost publications helped people retain their faith & pride. By… https://t.co/7Q7Lcq1z7S
— Meenakashi Lekhi (@M_Lekhi) June 19, 2023
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 told news agency ANI Monday.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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