Hills icons take ‘award wapsi’ route to root for Gorkhaland

Darjeeling: Nepali-speaking poets and musicians in the Hills chose to return awards from the Bengal government on the 203rd birth anniversary of Bhanu Bhakta Acharya — poet and father figure of the Hills — on Thursday, in a bid to send out signals that the movement in the region was something more than just arson and violence.
Writer Krishna Singh Moktan, who was warded the Bhanu Puraskar in 2004 and the Banga Ratna Puraskar in 2014 by the state government, returned his awards in a public function at Chowrasta organized by the Gorkhaland Movement Coordination Committee (GMCC), a conglomeration of 13 political and apolitical parties.
“I condemn the police atrocities in the Hills in which seven people died. I support their cause and in protest, I decided to return the awards given to me by the state government,” said the writer who is a retired additional IG (prison) Bengal.
Nepali music composer Karma Yonzon also returned his award at the same event. Yonzon was awarded the Sangeet Samman Puraskar in 2016 by the state government. “I have decided to return my award in support of Gorkhaland. I was given the award by Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata. Now if I receive any awards, it will be from Gorkhaland whenever it is formed,” he said.
Similarly, academicians, Nauratna Pradhan and Prabhat Pradhan, who were conferred with the Siksha Ratna Puraskar in 2015, also returned their awards. “We are being labelled terrorists by the Bengal government when our community has sacrificed their lives for the nation. Police are killing innocent people who are demonstrating for a justified demand. Under such circumstances, we feel we should not accept anything given by the state government,” they said.
On July 14, local figures like playwright-actor Kirn Thakury, actor Bhaskar Pradhan, novelist Krishna Singh Moktan and musician Karma Yanzon will lead a group of 500 artists to perform at Chowrsata at 11am.
“The entire movement is inspired by our demand for Gorkhaland,” said Thakury who has been rehearsing for the big day at Kala Mandir beside the iconic Darjeeling railway Station. A theatre group will recreate the Gorkhaland agitation in 1986. “It is called ‘Amar Katha’ and it depicts the sacrifices made by the Gorkhas to claim their legal rights in a peaceful manner,” said Pradhan.