Gita Press, the publisher of Hindu religious books, was, on Sunday, 18 June, awarded the Union government's annual Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2021.
The award, which was instituted in 1995 on the occasion of MK Gandhi's 125th birth anniversary, carries an amount of Rs 1 crore, a citation, a plaque and an exquisite traditional handicraft/handloom item.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi commended the publisher in a tweet saying, "I congratulate Gita Press, Gorakhpur on being conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize 2021. They have done commendable work over the last 100 years towards furthering social and cultural transformations among the people."
Manager of Gita Press, Lalmani Tiwari, said that the award is a proud moment for them but said they would not accept the cash prize. "Gita Press has been conferred with Gandhi Peace Prize 2021. This is a very proud moment for us. We thank the govt of India and PM Modi for this award. We have denied to accept any kind of donations as it is our principle. However, we will certainly accept the award for it's honour."
Gita Press has published and sold crores of Hindu religious books since its establishment in 1923. The publisher also runs a Hindi monthly called Kalyan since 1926.
However, the critics of Gita Press accuse it of promoting conservative view of religion and right-wing ideology.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that giving the award to Gita Press was akin to giving it VD Savarkar or Nathuram Godse.
"The Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 has been conferred on the Gita Press at Gorakhpur which is celebrating its centenary this year. There is a very fine biography from 2015 of this organisation by Akshaya Mukul in which he unearths the stormy relations it had with the Mahatma and the running battles it carried on with him on his political, religious & social agenda. The decision is really a travesty and is like awarding Savarkar and Godse," he tweeted.
The Kerala unit of the Congress too slammed the decision. "Gandhi Peace Prize is conferred on Gita Press! Better to change the name of the award to "Godse Peace Price"! Why? Because two key members of the Hindu Mahasabha and founders of Gita Press, Hanuman Prasad Poddar and Jay Dalal Goenka, were arrested for their roles in Gandhi's assassination!"
Rashtriya Janata Dal MP, Manoj Jha, told a media channel that it was ironic that Gita Press was being given an award in Gandhi's name.
"No one is questioning their work on scriptures and literature but why give them the Gandhi Peace Prize. It is such an irony that they have been conferred with the award when their idea of Hinduism is very different from what Gandhiji's Hinduism was. It's ironic that they are being given an award in Gandhi's name."
Senior journalist Hartosh Singh Bal tweeted that "giving the gandhi peace prize to the gita press is like giving savarkar a bravery award, it is a mockery of the very idea of the award."
Saib Bilaval, Associate Editor with Three Essays Collective, alleged that the Gita Press was responsible for communal, casteist and anti-women discourse.
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