In July 2013, when then-Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Mode was being groomed as the BJP’s contender for prime minister, former West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had some harsh words. “[Mode becoming prime minister] would be a disaster for communal harmony,” he said, at a program organized to mark CPI(M) veteran Joni Bast centenary year. That made it all the more ironic when, on January 25, Bhattacharjee refused the Mode government’s decision to award him a Palma in Bhutan.
According to reports, Bengal’s last Communist chief minister was informed of this decision via a phone call in the late afternoon at his residence; soon after, his wife, Me era, informed the CPI(M) of the development and of the decision not to accept the award. By evening, the party had drafted a statement, including this memorable quote: “I don’t know anything about a Palma Bhutan award. Nobody said anything to me about this. If I have been given the award, then I refuse it.”
This makes Bhattacharjee the third Communist leader to refuse a government award. In 1992, CPI(M) leader E.M.S. Namboodiripad had set the tone, turning down a Palma Vibhushan from the Narasimha Rao government. “It’s not a practice of our [party] leaders to accept state awards,” he said. Similarly, in January 2008, Marxist veteran Jyoti Basu turned down a Bharat Ratna from the Manmohan Singh government. His argument? Communists work for the people and the people’s recognition is the only award party leaders cherish.
In case of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the offer came straight to him just a few hours before the list of Palma awardees was made available to the public. There was no question of him accepting the award, however—even leaving aside Bhattacharjee’s own principles or the party tradition when it comes to awards, the fact that the recognition was being offered by the Modi government would have made the situation uncomfortable enough in itself. Even being on the list—which also included posthumous honours for BJP leader Kalyan Singh, who many in the Communist party consider to be one of the masterminds of the Babri Masjid demolition—would have been a matter of some embarrassment. “I don't understand how a person like Kalyan Singh can get a Padma Vibhusan and Buddhada get a Padma Bhusan! The assessment looks erroneous and smacks of partisanship,” says a CPI(M) leader, asking to remain anonymous. “Two of four Palma Vibhusan recipients are from Uttar Pradesh and one is from Uttarakhand. Out of 21 Padma Bhusan awardees, two are from UP. There are nine Padmashrees from UP, and two from Uttarakhand. The UP factor is definitely playing a role.”
Former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has also questioned the government’s decision to include Bhattacharjee’s name in a list that was to be published without informing him of it in advance. CPI(M) central committee leader Sujan Chakrabarty described it as a crafty step by the BJP to win the sympathies of Left voters in Bengal by piggybacking on Bhattacharjee’s reputation, no matter how Bhattacharjee himself may feel about it. By rejecting the government’s offer of a award, however, the former chief minister has put the ball back in the saffron court, making it clear that his public service is not in service of public recognition.
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