Three eminent personalities from West Bengal refused to accept the Padma award

In a literally embarrassing situation for the Union government, three renowned personalities have refused to accept the Padma award citing different reasons.

Former Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was the first who refused to accept Padma Bhushan on January 25 soon after its announcement.

Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee issued a statement in which he said that he has no idea about Padma Bhushan.

His statement, originally released in Bengali, said, "I don't know anything about the Padma Bhushan. No one has told me anything about it. If indeed they have given me the Padma Bhushan, then I reject it."

His refusal as if set a sort of trend after which two eminent artists from West Bengal, tabla maestro Pandit Anindya Chatterjee and noted vocalist Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, also rejected the awards.

90-year-old Sandhya Mukhopadhyay is a renowned singer whose career spans almost eight decades. The government had announced the conferment of Padma Shri to her. It is the fourth highest civilian award. However, the legendary singer refused it saying that the award is not of her stature and it suits someone who is a junior artist.

Similarly, Pandit Anindya Chatterjee, a renowned percussionist who is as eminent as maestros like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, politely turned down the government award. He also feels that he is too senior to get this honour and stature of his career.

He said that he had crossed that stage of his life where he should have been honoured with this award.