Gandhi Peace Prize 2021 For Gita Press Why It triggered A Congress-BJP Brawl?

Zaheer Hussain
June 30, 2023
398

Gita Press in Gorakhpur has been chosen to receive the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2021. A jury led by Prime Minister Modi unanimously chose Gita Press for its outstanding contribution to social, economic, and political transformation through nonviolent and other Gandhian methods.

Why In The News?

Gita Press, Gorakhpur, Has Been Selected For The Gandhi Peace Prize For The Year 2021. A Jury Headed By PM Modi Unanimously Selected Gita Press In Recognition Of Its Outstanding Contribution Towards Social, Economic And Political Transformation Through Non-Violent And Other Gandhian Methods.

Gandhi Peace Prize

Gandhi Peace Prize Is An Annual Award Instituted By The Government In 1995, on The 125^th Birth Anniversary Of Mahatma Gandhi. It Is 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 Ministry Of Culture Said, The Award Carries An Amount Of One Crore Rupees, A Citation And A Plaque.
The Jury Headed By The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, After Due Deliberations Today Unanimously Decided To Select Gita Press, Gorakhpur As The Recipient Of The Gandhi Peace Prize For The Year 2021.
The Award Will Be Given To Gita Press In Recognition Of Its Outstanding Contribution To Social, Economic And Political Transformation Through Non-violent And Other Gandhian Methods.

Gita Press, Gorakhpur

The Gandhi Peace Prize For The Year 2021 Is Being Conferred On Gita Press, Gorakhpur. Established In 1923, Gita Press Is One Of The World’s Largest Publishers, Having Published Over 41 Crore Books In 14 Languages, Including Over 16 Crore Shrimad Bhagvad Gita.
Gita Press Was Founded Officially In 1923 By Jaydayal Goyandka, A Marwari Businessman From Bankura, West Bengal. However, The Seeds For The Idea Were Sown Over A Long Period Of Time, During Goyandka’s Business Travels.
But It Was Only In 1926 That Gita Press Truly Came To Life As A Serious Player In The Fast-Emerging Hindi Publishing World Of The Early Twentieth Century. This Was With The Beginning Of Its Monthly Magazine, Kalyan, The First Monthly Journal To Be Devoted Exclusively To Hinduism.
First, Was The Consolidation Of Hindi As A Language – Specifically, As ‘A Language Of Hindus’ – And The Rapid Growth Of Its Use In The Public Sphere By The End Of The Nineteenth Century.
More Importantly, The Rise Of Competing Political Nationalism Among Hindus And Muslims In The Period, Created A Space For An Entity Like Kalyan To Rapidly Expand By Acting As A Vehicle To Spread The Hindu Nationalist Message.
Kalyan, Along With The Publication Of Cheap Yet High-Quality Editions Of The Ramayana, Gita, Mahabharata, Puranas And Other Hindu Religious Texts Made The Gita Press One Of The Most Important Institutions In Modern Hinduism And Hindu Nationalism.

Gita Press Today

Today, Gita Press Is One Of The World’s Largest Publishers And The Only Indigenous Publishing Enterprise Of Colonial India That Continues To Thrive In The 21^st Century.
Its Books Are Published In 15 Languages Including English, Urdu And Nepali, With 20 Retail Outlets And Over 2500 Book Sellers In India And Abroad Selling Them. And It Is Growing Like Never Before.
During The Pandemic, When Publishers Across The World Were Facing Major Crises, Gita Press Grew. In The Financial Year 2022-23, The Press Sold Over 2.40 Crore Copies Of Our Books For Nearly Rs 111 Crore.
Gita Press Sells Nearly 10 Lakh Copies Of Ramcharitmanas Every Year. Moreover, Kalyan Presently Has A Print Order For Approximately 1.60 Lakh Copies. Over The Years, It Has Sold Over 17 Crore Copies Of Kalyan.

Brawl Between Congress And BJP

Senior Congress Leader Jairam Ramesh Slammed The Centre For Awarding The Gandhi Peace Prize For 2021 To Publisher Gita Press From Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur.
Calling The Decision, Taken By A Jury Headed By PM Modi, A “Travesty”, The Congress MP Likened It To Awarding Hindutva Ideologue VD Savarkar And Mahatma Gandhi’s Killer Nathuram Godse.
He Also Referred To A 2015 Book On Gita Press Authored By Journalist Akshaya Mukul, Claiming It Unearths The “Stormy Relations” The Publisher Had With The Mahatma.
Past Gandhi Peace Prize Awardees Include Organisations Such As Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ramakrishna Mission, Akshaya Patra, Sulabh International, And Luminaries Like Late Dr Nelson Mandela, Baba Amte, And Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Among Others.

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