Bhandari turns down Bhanu Puraskar; Saddened Nepali Sahitya Parishad says no one will be conferred the award this year

GANGTOK, 06 July: Former Chief Minister, Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee president Nar Bahadur Bhandari has turned down the Bhanu Puraskar 2012 of the Nepali Sahitya Parishad. While his name was announced as the recipient of this year’s Bhanu Puraskar yesterday by the NSP, Mr. Bhandari, while speaking to NOW! today, said that he has no intention of accepting the award and that he had informed the NSP selection committee when they had called on his earlier to inform him of his selection. The Nepali Sahitya Parishad, in the meanwhile, informs that it is ‘saddened’ by Mr. Bhandari’s decision. When asked whether another person would be named for this year’s award, an NSP office bearer informed that organization has decided to suspend the award for this year – no one will be receiving the Bhanu Puraskar this year.
Speaking to NOW! over the phone, Mr. Bhandari disclosed that members of the selection committee had visited him earlier to intimate him of the decision to award him with the Bhanu Puraskar. “I had told them then itself that I would not be accepting the award,” he said.
He further related that his name should not have been declared without his consent especially since he had already intimated his decision to the committee members. “But they went ahead and announced my name without my consent,” he said adding that he had not communicated his decision officially.
The Nepali Sahitya Parishad general secretary, Jagdish Sharma, when contacted, explained that the Parishad had nominated Mr. Bhandari for the Bhanu Puraskar 2012 in recognition of his contributions towards Nepali language and literature. He said that the Parishad is not aware of the reasons behind Mr. Bhandari’s declining the award, though he stated that the NSP was saddened by it.
As a result, it has been decided that the Bhanu Puraskar will not be conferred on anyone this year, he added. This will be for the first time since the award was instituted that the Nepali Sahitya Parishad will not be conferring it on any one.
As to the reason behind why he was declining the award, Mr. Bhandari said that his condition for accepting the award is the recognition of the identity of the Gorkhas with the fulfillment of the demand for Gorkhaland.
On the years of struggle for the recognition of Nepali language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, Mr. Bhandari said that it was a struggle and victory of the people. “The credit should go to the people, not me,” he said, adding that he did not want to engage in cheap politics referring to the announcement of his name for the award.
He also said that he would not like to receive anything from this SDF government which had several cases of corruption allegations pending against it. He also explained that the Bhanu Puraskar had been instituted during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Sikkim for persons of high literary merit so “…it would not look nice for the creator of the award to be receiving it”.