Sahitya Akademi member Anadiranjan Biswas resigns after Mamata Banerjee was honoured with special award

Biswas, who was a member of the Bengali Advisory Board, Sahitya Akademi, Kolkata, said in his resignation letter, "I always keep poems of Gurudev Rabindranath Thakur in high esteem since I consider those as sustenance of my survival. But, on 9th May, 2022, (which was the 161st birth anniversary of Gurudev), sheer insult has been caused to Bengali Poetry in Kolkata."

Further slamming the government, he added, "Earlier also, it has been observed by me that whims, caprices, nepotism and 'pick and choose' theory are ruling the contemporary Bengali literature in Kolkata. Hence, my conscience and the morality which I believe in goaded me to take this ultimate action."

Apart from Biswas, writer Ratna Rashid Banerjee Tuesday returned the Annadashankar award that she had received in 2019.

Banerjee has been awarded for his book Kabita Bitan, whose title has a striking resemblance with Rabindranath Tagore's Gitabitan.

Despite being present on the dais, Banerjee did not receive the award.

State Education Minister Bratya Basu had received the award on the Chief Minister's behalf.

Banerjee's Kabita Bitan, which was launched in 2020, is a collection of her own poems.