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‘Honoured’, says Gita Press; declines ₹1 crore cash prize
Gita Press on Monday said it was a matter of great honour to be conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2021, but the Gorakhpur-based publisher would not accept the ₹1 crore cash prize.
Gita Press on Monday said it was a matter of great honour to be conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2021, but the Gorakhpur-based publisher would not accept the ₹1 crore cash component of the award in tune with its “principle to not accept any kind of donations”.
Instituted by the government in 1995, the Gandhi Peace Prize is an annual award as a tribute to the ideals espoused by Mahatma Gandhi. The award is open to all persons, regardless of nationality, race, language, caste, creed or gender.
The award carries a cash prize of ₹1 crore, a citation, a plaque and an exquisite traditional handicraft/handloom item. The past awardees include organisations such as the Indian Space Research Organisation and Ramakrishna Mission.
On Sunday, the ministry of culture announced that the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2021 will be conferred on Gita Press, Gorakhpur, in recognition of its “outstanding contribution towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods”.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Gita Press manager Lalmani Tripathi said: “It is a matter of great honour for us. We thank the government of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this award. It is our principle to not accept any kind of donations, so the trustee board has decided not to take the award in any monetary form. However, we will certainly accept the award for the honour of it.”
Established in 1923, Gita Press is one of the world’s largest publishers, having published 417 million books in 14 languages, including 162 million Shrimad Bhagvad Gita, the culture ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
In a tweet on Sunday, Modi said Gita Press has “done commendable work over the last 100 years towards furthering social and cultural transformations among the people.”
On Monday, Union home minister Amit Shah said that conferring the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 on Gita Press is an honour for the work being done by it. “If India’s glorious ancient Sanatan culture and scriptures can be read easily today, it is due to Gita Press’s unmatched contribution. Conferring Gandhi Peace Prize 2021 on Gita Press is an honour of the work being done by it,” he tweeted.
BJP national president J P Nadda also congratulated Gita Press, saying: “Your contribution for the last 100 years in the preservation and flourishing of India’s glorious Sanatan culture is commendable”.
Meanwhile, the BJP hit out at Congress general secretary-in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh over his remarks on Sunday that the decision to award the publisher is a “travesty” and is like awarding Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar and Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse.
“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,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted.
