Upset over the West Bengal government not accepting her recommendation of a writer for the prestigious Vidyasagar award, writer and Bangla Akademi chairperson Mahasweta Devi resigned from her post. “I have never felt more humiliated as a writer in my life,” she said after faxing her resignation letter to the chief minister’s office.
The octogenarian Magsaysay Award winner had actively campaigned for the Trinamul Congress. Her resignation reflected the growing disenchantment among the intellectuals with Ms Banerjee’s style of functioning. An angry and hurt Ms Devi said: “I have never felt so utterly humiliated in my literary life as by this slight. The Akademi had constituted a committee which proposed the names of two writers: Shibaji Bandopadhyay and Sankar Prasad Chakrobarty. I had recommended them as joint recipients for the prestigious award, but one of names has been unjustly removed.”
Reading out her resignation letter which she had sent to the chief minister, Ms Devi said: “This was the first noted award for which the Akademi had selected talented names. The government did not even consult me when they removed the other name, who is a young talented writer. I have always supported youth and this decision is such an ignominy for me.”
The Magsaysay Award winner also complained of not getting any recognition from the Akademi. “I have been given several awards but never got any recognition from the Akademi,” said the author. The relations between the Sahitya Akademi Award winning author and Ms Banerjee of late have become strained. Recently, Ms Devi had described the state government as “fascist” and alleged that it was trying to throttle the people’s voice.
Reacting on the development, noted novelist and poet Sunil Gangopadhyay said, “This is an unfortunate incident and I am deeply hurt. The state government must apologise to the writer and bring her back for the development of the Akademi.”