Gita Press award: Oppn member in jury, Adhir Chowdhury, says was kept in dark

According to the Code of Procedure for the Gandhi Peace Prize, which was instituted by the Central government in 1995, the awardee is selected by a five-member jury. While the jury is chaired by the Prime Minister, its other members are the Chief Justice of India, Leader of the Opposition or the leader of the largest Opposition party in Lok Sabha (in this case Chowdhury), and two “eminent persons”.

Sources said the two other jury members are Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh International – they were also part of the jury that conferred the 2020 award on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founder of Bangladesh.

According to the Code, the jury can take the final decision on the awardee at a meeting only when at least three of its members are present.

Chowdhury told The Indian Express: “Before selecting the final nominee for the prestigious and outstanding award, there is a set norm and procedure whereby the leader of the largest Opposition party is invited and allowed to express his or her view. In this case, in spite of the fact that I happened to be a member of the jury, I was not invited. I was not even called over the phone to attend the meeting.”

“This is nothing but the sheer autocratic attitude of this government, which has been very much explicit and evident in all their actions and reactions,” he said.

On Monday, criticising the government’s decision to confer the prize on Gita Press, Congress communications head Jairam Ramesh called it “a travesty” and said it was “like awarding Savarkar and Godse”.

The BJP hit back with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma accusing the Congress of “unleashing a war against India’s civilisational values”.

Chowdhury claimed the government did not invite him as it may have thought that he would not agree with its choice.

“The practice in all other committees where I am a member, as a representative of the Opposition, is that they furnish some sort of documents so that I can express my views before a final decision is taken. They might have thought that this kind of awardee will never get any certificate of appreciation from the Opposition party,” he said.

“This is nothing short of trampling of Opposition voices… It is a tragedy for democracy. I got to know about the award through the media… rather by the grace of the media,” he said.

On Monday, the Gita Press announced that it will receive the citation but not accept the Rs 1 crore cash award that comes with the prize.

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“We never take any awards or donations. In this present case, we are going to receive the citation but we will not accept any award money as receiving a cash award will be against our principles,” Gita Press manager Lalmani Tiwari said.