By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI – The Narendra Modi government’s decision to select Gorakhpur-based Gita Press as the recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 has triggered a row over ideological foundation of the militant Hindu nationalism, as the publishing house has played a major role in the formation of a Hindu political consciousness in India. The award being conferred on Gita Press has also exposed the BJP’s designs to promote the Hindu right-wing agenda before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The decision has led to a slugfest between the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress and other like-minded parties. The Opposition has rightly pointed out that the Gita Press has not done anything significant for the promotion of peace so as to be eligible to get the prize. Gita Press is the world’s largest publisher of Hindu religious text since 1923, but there is no record of its role in strengthening peace or promoting communal harmony.
The Union Ministry of Culture said in a statement on June 18 that a jury headed by the Prime Minister had unanimously decided to select Gita Press, Gorakhpur, as the recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2021, in recognition of its “outstanding contribution towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods”. However, it was not clear what kind of Gandhian methods the publishing house had adopted ever since its establishment 100 years ago.
The Gandhi Peace Prize is an annual award instituted by the Government of India in 1995, on the occasion of the 125th Birth Anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Its recipients are entitled to a prize money of Rs. 1 crore, a citation, a plaque and an exquisite traditional handicraft/handloom item. The awardees in the past include Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ramakrishna Mission, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, Vivekananda Kendra (Kanyakumari), Akshaya Patra (Bengaluru), Ekal Abhiyan Trust and Sulabh International (New Delhi).
The Congress has reprimanded the BJP-led Government at the Centre and pointed to the role of Gita Press in creating the political pre-eminence of the Hindu Right. The Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh took to Twitter to criticise the decision and said that giving the prize to Gita Press is really a travesty and is like awarding V. D. Savarkar and Nathuram Godse.
Ramesh also shared the cover page of the book, “Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India”, authored by Akshaya Mukul in 2015, and argued how the author “unearths the stormy relations it had with the Mahatma and the running battles it carried on with him on his political, religious and social agenda”.
One of the world’s largest publishers, Gita Press was established in 1923. It has published 41.7 crore books in 14 languages, including 16.2 crore Shrimad Bhagvad Gita, according to a statement by the Union Ministry of Culture. However, it is doubtful if that record makes the publishing house qualified to receive the award named after Mahatma Gandhi, which is essentially meant for the individuals and organisations promoting Gandhian principles in the society.
According to the official website of the Gita Press, the institution’s main objective is to “promote and spread the principles of Sanatana Dharma, the Hindu religion among the general public by publishing Gita, Ramayana, Upanishads, Puranas, Discourses of eminent Saints and other character-building books and magazines and marketing them at highly subsidised prices”. The Union Ministry of Culture has said that Gita Press had never relied on advertisement in its publications for revenue generation. Gita Press along with its affiliated organisations, strives for the betterment of life and the well-being of all, it said.
After the criticism by Ramesh, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha also said that while the contribution of Gita Press to the field of literature could not be denied, it would be interesting to find out what it had done for the promotion of peace. “What kind of social and cultural transformation have they brought? They have done good work but what is their contribution to peace-building? There are certain parameters involved in selecting the organisation. If you were keen to promote Gita Press, you could have given them any amount but don’t associate with them Gandhi’s name,” Jha said.
In his biography whose title was cited by Ramesh, author Akshaya Mukul has argued that the ideas articulated by Gita Press and its publications played a critical role in the formation of a Hindu political consciousness and indeed a Hindu public sphere. Gita Press has created an empire which spoke in a militant Hindu nationalist voice and imagined a quantifiable, reward-based piety. Almost every notable leader and prominent voice, including Mahatma Gandhi, was roped in to speak for the cause.
Cow slaughter, Hindi as national language and the rejection of Hindustani, the Hindu Code Bill, the creation of Pakistan, India’s secular Constitution are some of the subjects on which the Gita Press and its magazines Kalyan and Kalyana-Kalpataru explained the Hindu position. Making an overall analysis, the book says that the Gita Press’s project of promoting the supremacy of Hindu ideology continues unabated. At a time when politics has become more divisive, Gita Press’s template is unchanged and its political agenda remains undiluted, as does its fond hope that India will one day become Hindu.
A large number of BJP leaders, including sitting and former Union Ministers as well as Members of Parliament, have targeted the Congress and other Opposition parties for objecting to the jury’s decision to confer the prize on Gita Press. The publishing house has refused to comment on the political reactions to the jury’s decision.
However, Gita Press has declined to accept Rs. 1 crore amount which comes with the prize and said it would only accept the citation and not the cash prize, suggesting that the Government should spend the cash reward amount elsewhere. But this stand will neither eliminate scepticism over its selection nor remove the suspicion that ideological affiliation with the Sangh Parivar and the ruling party has played a crucial role in its nomination for the coveted prize.
