Three weeks after Magsaysay Award winner Mahasweta Devi resigned as Chairperson of the Bangla Academy, she continues to wait for a response from the State government, the author told The Hindu here on Wednesday.
On May 23, Ms. Devi had sent her resignation letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has additional charge of the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs. The writer had felt “humiliated” that her choice for the recipient of the academy's Vidyasagar Puraskar was not selected for the award.“I had sent in my resignation, but have not heard from the government yet. The work of the Bangla Academy is related to literature, there was nothing political about my decision. I had only wanted to encourage young writers,” Ms. Devi said.
Asked if the government's failure to respond was yet another snub, the 87-year-old author said,“I do not know why I have not received a reply, at my age I am tiring of such things.”
The revolutionary writer was known to be close to Ms. Banerjee and had openly endorsed her ahead of the 2011 Assembly elections in the State.
Ms. Devi had also attended several rallies of the Trinamool Congress in the past, but of late has publicly spoken out against Ms. Banerjee's government.
When a group of protesters were not allowed to hold a demonstration in the heart of the city, the writer had condemned the suppression of freedom of expression stating, “None of us knowingly invited Fascism.”
The writer has also criticised Ms. Banerjee's government on the death of Communist Party of India (Maoist) Polit Bureau member Koteswara Rao alias Kishenji demanding that an inquiry be conducted to allay fears that it was brought about in a “fake encounter.”
