New Delhi: The Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 will be conferred on Gita Press, Gorakhpur, in recognition of its “outstanding contribution towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods”, according to an official statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Gita Press for winning the prize and commended its contribution to the field.
“I congratulate Gita Press, Gorakhpur on being conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize 2021. They have done commendable work over the last 100 years towards furthering social and cultural transformations among the people. @GitaPress,” PM Modi tweeted.
The jury headed by Prime Minister Modi unanimously decided to select Gita Press as the recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize, said the statement issued by the Ministry of Culture.
Modi recalled the contribution of Gita Press in promoting the Gandhian ideals of peace and social harmony. He observed that the conferment of the Gandhi Peace Prize on Gita Press, on completion of hundred years of its establishment, is a recognition of the work done by the institution in community service, the statement said.
The Congress, however, criticised awarding the prize to Gita Press and called it a “travesty”.
The party’s general secretary-in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said, “The Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 has been conferred on the Gita Press at Gorakhpur which is celebrating its centenary this year.”
“There is a very fine biography from 2015 of this organisation by Akshaya Mukul in which he unearths the stormy relations it had with the Mahatma and the running battles it carried on with him on his political, religious and social agenda,” he said.
“The decision is really a travesty and is like awarding Savarkar and Godse,” Ramesh said on Twitter.
Established in 1923, Gita Press is one of the world’s largest publishers, having published 41.7 crore books in 14 languages, including 16.21 crore Shrimad Bhagvad Gita, it said.
“Gandhi Peace Prize 2021 recognises the important and unparalleled contribution of Gita Press, in contributing to collective upliftment of humanity, which personifies Gandhian living in true sense,” the statement said.
The Gandhi Peace Prize is an annual award instituted by the government in 1995, on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as a tribute to the ideals espoused by Mahatma Gandhi.
The award is open to all persons regardless of nationality, race, language, caste, creed or gender. The award carries an amount of Rs 1 crore, a citation, a plaque and an exquisite traditional handicraft/handloom item, the ministry said.
Recent awardees include Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said, Oman (2019) and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (2020), Bangladesh.
