Communist veteran VS Achutanandan.
Credit: X/ @surendranbjp
New Delhi: The Modi government choosing Communist veteran VS Achutanandan for Padma Vibhushan has put the CPI(M) in a bind ahead of Kerala elections even as the party said it is a "posthumous" recognition and "leaving it at that" as the family has expressed happiness over the recognition.
Earlier, veterans EMS Namboodiripadu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya have declined the awards while the party itself made it clear that it would not seek Bharat Ratna for Jyoti Basu, citing party line on not accepting state awards.
While it understands the political undertone of naming VS, as he is known, for the Padma award, the CPI(M) is trying to wriggle out of the issue by claiming that this episode cannot be compared with that of EMS, Basu and Bhattacharya, as it was during their life time.
Soon after the 2026 Padma list was out, Achutanandan's son Arun Kumar expressed "big happiness" over the award while talking to reports claiming that he had come to know about it when it came on news channels. Usually, the government seeks the consent of awardees and their families in case it is a posthumous award.
A top CPI(M) leader told DH that it is a posthumous award and the party would not get involved in deciding on its acceptance. It is for the family to decide, he said while pointing out that the issue of EMS, Basu and Bhattacharya came up when they were alive.
The CPI(M) traditionally declines state awards. EMS was chosen for Padma Vibhushan award along with BJP's AB Vajpayee in 1992 by the then Congress government led by PV Narasimha Rao. While Vajpayee received the award, the Marxist veteran declined it.
In 2008, a suggestion was made by then Minister and Congress leader M Veerappa Moily and others that Basu be conferred Bharat Ratna.
The demand came after BJP veteran LK Advani wrote to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking Bharat Ratna for former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee. That time too, the party and Basu made it clear that they were not in favour of such an idea.
Bhattacharya, who was then ailing, was named among the Padma Vibhushan in 2022 with his family claiming that his consent was not sought. After his name was announced, the family and the party declined it with then party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury citing the party policy.
"Com. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya who was nominated for the Padma Bhushan award has declined to accept it. The CPI(M) policy has been consistent in declining such awards from the State. Our work is for the people not for awards. Com EMS who was earlier offered an award had declined it," the CPI(M) said in a statement on 25 January, 2022.
Bhattacharya separately said, "I don't know anything about Padma Bhushan Award, nobody told me anything about this. If I have been awarded Padma Bhushan then I am rejecting it."
While Bhattacharya declined the award, the decision of Ghulam Nabi Azad, then a Congress leader who had risen in rebellion against party leadership, to accept the award triggered unease in the Congress, which expected him to decline it. However, he did not do so and later left the party.