Earlier yesterday, the government of India conferred Padma Awards on 119 recipients in a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. A ceremony to honour the awardees could not be held in 2020 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. Among those received awards included Karan John, Kangana Ranaut, P V Sindhu, Rani Rampal, Arun Jaitley(P), Sushma Swaraj(P) and several others.
However, the inclusion of actor Kangana Ranaut in the list of recipients for the prestigious honour did not sit well with a few left-leaning “intellectuals” who had a meltdown watching President Kovind bestow the Padma Shri Award 2020 to the ‘Manikarnika’ actress.
Usual suspects suffer a meltdown after Kangana receives Padma Shri Award 2020
Ashok Swain, who is apparently a Professor at Uppsala University in Sweden and is often found peddling fake news on Twitter, quoted an ANI tweet about Kangana receiving the Padma Shri Award and said India’s national honour is being awarded to someone whose Twitter account has been banned for hate speech against Muslims.
Similarly, Mrinal Pande, a columnist for the Congress mouthpiece National Herald, also had a hard time digesting the fact that Kangana Ranaut was awarded with a Padma Shri. She took to Twitter to quote Kangana’s reaction to the national honour and wondered if Padma jokes are some of the best ones.
Then there was Arfa Khanum Sherwani, a journalist associated with leftist propaganda website, The Wire, and who is known for defending proponents of radical Islam, said hononouring people who are banned for hate speeches is akin to honouring hate.
“Hate mongers should not be given national honours. Let’s not forget what she said on Twitter,” tweeted Man Man Singh China, a journalist according to his Twitter bio.
Liberals fume as Modi government awards merits and achievement over sycophancy
Kangana’s detractors cite her suspension from Twitter as a compelling reason for the government to have not conferred the prestigious honour on the actor. However, it is worth bearing in mind that the the Padma Awards are bestowed by the government on individuals for distinction in their respective areas of expertise and not for their existence on social media websites like Twitter. Even terror outfit Taliban has many accounts on Twitter through which it communicates with the world. Therefore, having a Twitter account is not exactly a great yardstick to decide whether one deserves a Padma award or not.
Notably, Kangana has four national awards to her name. She was recently awarded the Best Actress Award for her performances in Manikarnika: Queen of Jhansi and Panga. She had also won Best Supporting Actress for Fashion in 2008, Best Actress awards for Queen in 2014 and Tanu Weds Manu Returns in 2015.
The actor has been awarded for her excellence in her profession, which is acting. However, the left-leaning intellectuals and journalists, believe she should not have been awarded because her Twitter account was suspended. Naturally, merit and hard work are among virtues most detested by the usual suspects because for years they had been using tools of lobbying, ingratiation and sycophancy to land the prestigious awards. With the Modi government selecting the Padma Award recipient based on their achievements and merit, this unease among the left-leaning intellectuals and journalists is but obvious.
‘Padma Award will shut mouths of lot of people’: Actor Kangana Ranaut
After receiving the award, Kangana took to Instagram to share a message for her followers. She said she had previously received many awards for her work as an actor but the Padma Shri showed how the country valued her as an ‘ideal citizen’ too. “I am grateful. When I had started my career at a young age, it took me 8-10 years to taste success. But when I finally became successful, I did not enjoy that but launched myself into other issues. I shunned fairness products, items numbers, working in movies with popular male leads and with production houses. I made more enemies than I made money,” she said.
In her video message, Kangana also pointed out how being outspoken on social and political issues have resulted in legal cases filed against her. “People often ask me what do I get by doing all this? Why do I do all this? This is not your job. So this award is my answer to them.”
