No lotuses for Romila Thapar
Published by Yazad Jal February 3rd, 2005 in GovernanceEver wonder at the incongruity of state awards? And see how similar it is to monarchs of yore handing out the goodies to loyal servants?
I agree with Romila Thapar’s decision to return the Padma Bhushan. She makes her reasons clear in this interview.
In 1992, I was given precisely this award. I decided I would stay with academic and professional awards and not accept state awards….and I declined. Three months ago, an officer from the HRD ministry rang me up about this award and I explained that, consistent with my views, I would decline again.(snip)
The procedures for making these awards need to be gone into a little more systematically. Who sits on these committees, how they decide…. Secondly, who is recognised? There is a tendency to recognise those who are already recognised. Not people who are doing valiant jobs in society, but remain unrecognised.
Regardless of political differences–Ms. Thapar is no libertarian–I would do the same. Yes, I know the mandarins at North Block are in no particular hurry to award me the Padma whatever. But when they do, I shall respectfully decline and ask them to disband the annual jamboree.
Thapar also made an interesting point
As I was repeatedly told in the last three days, I wouldn’t have been on the list if the BJP had been in power. And I realise that. What that means is, there is somewhere a slight slippage between a state award and a government’s act of patronage. That, I think, needs to be clarified. The separation needs to be sharpened.
The separation that she talks about is a mirage. The Padma awards were, are, and will always be an act of patronage by the government of the day cloaked in the false respectability of claiming to represent India.
As an aside, I wonder if anyone noticed that Padma means lotus in Sanskrit and the BJP’s political symbol is the lotus!
16 Responses to “No lotuses for Romila Thapar”
- 1 Trackback on Feb 12th, 2005 at 3:30 am
I quite agree that the Padma xxxx awards are purely doles handed out by the state. The committees that decide on the lists of awardees change with a change of power.
Its the same with the various sports awards (Arjuna, Dronacharya) and the other awards like the National film awards.
By the way, I did notice the padma/lotus/bjp connection when i read the title of the post itself!
I really get angry when people actually make it a prestige issue with awards doled out by the Govt. Every time there is a some controvery during the National Film Awards (See http://movies.indiainfo.com/features/nat-awards.html).
I just don’t get it! Isn’t it enough to have fame, money, respect and love of audiences? Why do even successful artists, academicians, sports persons, and many others drool at the prospect of state patronage?
Kudos to Romila Thapar for her bold and correct stand.
Of course she refused. Lotus? Pfft.
Our lady deserves no less than
sila (sanskrit for stone) awards. Why, we should all throw stones awards at her glorious not-at-all-a-traitor-to-India self.
Romila Thapar is a fraud masquerading as a historian. Period. And her making a big deal of refusing the award is just a show of self-righteousness for her claims to being a “scholar” were shredded to bits years ago. It might sound venomous but I suggest you read my take on this; if you’ve not done so already.
Romila Thapar is a fraud masquerading as a historian. Period. And her making a big deal of refusing the award is just a show of self-righteousness for her claims to being a “scholar” were shredded to bits years ago. It might sound venomous but I suggest you read my take on this; if you’ve not done so already.
Romila Thapar is a fraud masquerading as a historian. Period. And her making a big deal of refusing the award is just a show of self-righteousness for her claims to being a “scholar” were shredded to bits years ago. It might sound venomous but I suggest you read my take on this; if you’ve not done so already.
Yaz,
I’m really sorry for posting the same comment thrice. I got a comment submission error each time I submitted my comment, and so had to repost it.
I’m really sorry for posting the same comment thrice.
sorry? Any bashing of traitors and frauds like Romila Thapar bears repeating, if you ask me.
Sandeep,
Next time, drop me an email and I’ll erase the extra comments. No sweat.
Hey, Yazad, I’m ALL for fellows showing off their empty hatreds three times in a row, and for other guys actually applauding them for doing so. Dudes, please do it again!
Posting the comment thrice was an error on Sandeep’s part. (and perhaps does not deserve your acerbic comment)
Maybe you could direct your energies to commenting on the substance of this post or on Sandeep’s comment.
Dilip Dude a.k.a DD,
Not that I’m justifying anything here, but since you raked it, here goes: I normally post a comment only once. And that’s the reason I apologized to Yazad for inadvertently posting the same comment thrice. I wouldn’t have apologized if I knew that my comment was posted. Simple, right? But of course, you chose to read between the lines, and label it “hatred.” It isn’t hatred, buddy. It is called plainspeak or calling a spade a spade. Too bad it made you feel uncomfortable.
Romila Thapar is, I repeat–since you exhorted, “do it again!”–a fraud masquerading as a historian. Show me where the “empty hatred” is in this statement.
DD, I hadn’t expected this from you, a man who comes across as pretty compassionate when it comes to defending “victims” like Rohan Pinto.
Guys,
Let’s not get carried away. Disagreements are fine, but words like “fraud,” “traitor,” and “hatred” need to be used carefully. Otherwise all that shows is a shallow lack of knowledge and a quick eagerness to condemn.
This post is about the worthlessness of Padma awards, and not about the worth of Romila Thapar as a historian. She simply provides me with an example.
Whatever you might think of Romila Thapar, i think this is a very valid point.
Especially because awards help unknown people more than it can help those who are already famous. How?
Economist sometime back wrote about this study (pdf) on the impact of bestseller lists on book sales. James Suroweiki made a similar point here.
In one of the worst Tamil movies ever(Dhool), there was one dialogue which was really smart and well written. My traslation of the sentence will result in a loss of the real play with words. But let me try nevertheless…
“Nowadays noboady gets an award. They ‘get’ it”
Nevermind - just ignore my traslation. You do get the idea dont’ ya…