Former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and veteran artist Sandhya Mukherjee were honored with the Padma Bhushan Award for their social contributions.
On Tuesday (January 25) evening, the Modi government published the list of Padma Bhushan honors. In that list, their names were also with the prominent people of Bengal. However, both are rejecting the Padma award given by the Modi government.
According to the family sources of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, someone called on behalf of the central government at Buddhadeb's house this afternoon. Then consent was given. But Buddha did not know the matter then. After waking up, he just refused to listen to the news.
After the list of honors came to the fore this evening, a question was revolving around, will the Communist Chief Minister of Bengal accept the Padma award given by the BJP government? There was a natural curiosity as to whether Buddhadeb, who had repeatedly informed the state about the 'dangers' of the BJP, would come to the end of his life and accept the honor bestowed on them. But Buddha himself has put an end to that speculation.
On the other hand, artist Sandhya Mukherjee has refused the honor. On this day, she also received a phone call to accept this honor, the artist then made it clear that he will not be able to accept this honor.
"I have been called from Delhi," said the artist. I'm not saying I can't take this honor because my mind does not want it. They do not know what I have done. You don't even know me. They are not even aware of the world of music. That's why she spoke without knowing anything, that's what she felt bad about. Absolutely at the last stage of the announcement, they are calling me, after all this time it seems to them, I can't stand properly now, how can I go on stage and accept this honor?”
Earlier, Hemant Mukherjee and Soumitra Chatterjee had also denied the honor. However, actor Victor Banarjee will receive the 2022 Padma Bhushan Samman and classical musician Ustad Rashid Khan will receive the Padma Samman for his contribution to the arts.