Poet Nirmalendu Goon is irked at govt’s not giving him Independence Award

Poet Nirmalendu Goon, whose works have inspired Bengalees in their aspirations to liberate themselves from Pakistan, is irked at the government’s decision not to honour him with the Independence Award, at least for now.

The poet took to Facebook to vent his anger on Friday.

 

In a post, he questioned his classmate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ‘judgement’.

 

He said in the post, titled “Give me Independence Award”, that Hasina’s judgments ‘once surprised him, but nowadays he feels irritated”.

 

“This time I feel insulted, agitated,” he said.    

 

Goon and Hasina were classmates at Dhaka University’s Bangla department.

 

He later told bdnews24.com that ‘anger’ had led him to write the post.

 

He wrote, “I have had the strength in me for a long time to ignore those who dare to neglect me or take me lightly as a poet.”

 

Addressing the prime minister, Goon was blunt, “Correct your mistake if you can. Otherwise, dispense with the idea that you will confer the award on me later.”

The Awami League government, noted Goon, named him for the Ekushey Padak in 2000. However, Sheikh Hasina could not hand the award over to him as her party was defeated by the BNP at the elections the following year.

The custom at the time was for the award to be handed over the year after the announcement of it had been made.

“After regaining power, a smiling Khaleda Zia gave me the Ekushey Padak,” Goon wrote. 

Fifteen years have passed since he received the award. Hasina has been heading the government for eight years, but Goon has not yet been cited for the Independence Award.

“This is an allurement from Sheikh Hasina like a carrot on a stick. But she is not giving me that thing,” he wrote.

“Her list of eligible persons has been getting longer and now it has touched the sky, but my name can’t find a place in it,” he added.

The 14 persons named for the award this year include Finance Minister AMA Muhith, scientist Maqsudul Alam and Tagore songs exponent Rezwana Choudhury Bannya.

The others are Textiles and Jute Minister Md Emaz Uddin Pramanik, Abdus Salam and late Rafiqul Islam, politician, freedom fighter and philanthropist late Moulovi Achmat Ali Khan, retired Air Force squadron leader Bir Uttam Badrul Alam, martyred police officer Shah Abdul Majid, martyred public servant M Abdul Ali, cultural personality Syed Hasan Imam, late diplomats AKM Abdur Rauf and KM Shehabuddin, and paediatricians Dr Mohammad Rafi Khan (MR Khan).

Sheikh Hasina will give away the awards at Osmani Memorial Auditorium on Mar 24.