Hours after the Padma awards were announced Tuesday evening, three eminent personalities from the West Bengal refused to accept the Padma honour conferred upon them. While CPI’s Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee refused to accept Padma Bhushan, tabla player Anindya Chatterjee and vocalist Sandhya Mukhopadhyay rejected Padma Sri awards.
The former West Bengal chief minister said in a statement, “I do not know anything about the Padma Bhushan award. Nobody said anything to me about this. If I have been given the award, then I refuse it.” The statement was shared with the media by his party. Bengal CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra said in a statement that this has always been the party’s stand, that no CPI(M) leader has accepted civilian awards from the Centre in the past. Bhattacharjee was the West Bengal chief minister from 2000 to 2011. He has been unwell for some time and has been confined to his home.
Tabla player Anindya Chatterjee and playback singer Sandhya Mukherjee have both rejected the award. They have also told the media that it is too little, too late an honour to accept.