Ex-Kerala minister says she rejected Magsaysay award on party’s wish | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Ex-Kerala minister says she rejected Magsaysay award on party’s wish

By, Thiruvananthapuram
Sep 04, 2022 11:48 PM IST

A political controversy erupted in Kerala on Sunday after a news report claimed former Kerala health minister K K Shailaja refused to accept the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award at the behest of the ruling CPI(M).

A political controversy erupted in Kerala on Sunday after a news report claimed former Kerala health minister K K Shailaja refused to accept the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award at the behest of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M).

Former Kerala health minister K K Shailaja refused to accept the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award at the behest of the ruling CPI(M). (PTI)
Former Kerala health minister K K Shailaja refused to accept the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award at the behest of the ruling CPI(M). (PTI)

Both Shailaja and party general secretary Sitaram Yechury later confirmed the development. Yechury said Shailaja should not accept the award as former Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay, in whose name the award was constituted by Rockefeller Brothers Fund, was a staunch anti-Communist.

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The matter came to light on Sunday after The New Indian Express reported that Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation had zeroed in on Shailaja for the 64th Magsaysay award for her commitment and service towards ensuring an accessible public health system and effectively leading from the front to manage the Nipah and Covid-19 outbreaks in the state.

The 65-year-old, a member of the central committee of CPI(M), however, declined to accept the award after consulting the party’s national leadership, the report said. The party told her that Magsaysay was against Communists and had fought against Communist guerrillas in the 1950s, the report added.

As the news report triggered a political controversy, Shailaja said she did not want to receive the award in her individual capacity.

“It is true, I informed the award committee about my inability to accept the honour. I fully agree with the party that a collective leadership was behind rapid strides in the health sector, it is not an individual effort. For a central committee member like me, the party is everything,” she said.

On the incident being dubbed as a “second historical blunder” by the party, after it turned down the Prime Ministership for veteran leader Jyoti Basu two decades ago, the former minister said the two incidents cannot be equated.

“I don’t know how you can draw a parallel between these two. For a Communist, the party is supreme and I went by its directive. I am a political leader, not a social activist,” she said.

While the party’s state committee is yet to comment on the matter, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury confirmed it was a party decision.

“Ramon Magsaysay was anti-Communist so we have our reservations in receiving an honour in his name. She (Shailaja) was selected in her individual capacity but in the party, it is always collective leadership. So we decided not to accept it,” he told reporters in Delhi.

While most in the party supported the decision, a section of leaders disagreed.

The state government’s efforts to contain the Nipah outbreak in 2018 and later the Covid-19 pandemic were part of a collective movement and therefore, she should not accept the award in her individual capacity, most party leaders said.

“Since the former Philippine president was a known Communist-baiter, if she accepts the award, people will question the ideological dilution. So this is the right decision. For a Communist, his ideology is foremost,” a party leader said on condition of anonymity.

A section of leaders, however, blamed chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the decision.

“He (Vijayan) never allows anyone to offset his image. It was quite evident in earlier occasions also,” a party leader in Kannur said, seeking anonymity.

Kerala has missed out on a golden opportunity by refusing to accept the award, writer and political observer M N Karassery said.

“As an Indian and Keralite, I feel disappointed. We missed a golden opportunity. An honour like this should have added more glory to the state. It is sad that petty politics came in between,” Karassery said.

Speaking on similar lines, lawyer and political analyst A Jaishankar said: “If Pinarayi Vijayan was given the award he would have already flown to receive it. We all know party diktat is not applicable to bigwigs.”

The party is yet to learn a lesson from its past mistakes, Jaishankar added.

After the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) returned to power in the assembly elections last year, there were demands to retain Shailaja in the state cabinet. The party, however, refused on the ground that new leaders, barring the chief minister, should assume power.

Last week, her name was in the reckoning for the speaker’s post for a second time but the party announced AN Shamseer’s name for the role.

The Ramon Magsaysay award is expected to be announced in the second week of September.

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