Hours after she was announced as one of the recipients of the Padma Shri on Friday evening, author-publisher Gita Mehta declared she was declining the award as the “timing would be misconstrued”. Gita Mehta is the sister of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Mehta was given the Padma Shri for her contributions to the field of literature. Her prominent works include A River Sutra, Raj, Karma Cola and Snakes and Ladders. Gita Mehta's books have been translated into 26 languages, according to Penguin India.
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On Saturday morning, Mehta issued a statement, saying she was honoured to have been chosen for the Padma Shri, “but with great regret, I feel I must decline as there is a general election looming and the timing of the award might be misconstrued, causing embarrassment both to the Government and myself, which I would much regret.”
Some media reports claim the Modi government had been attempting to contact Mehta, who stays abroad, for months. The outreach to Mehta is likely to be interpreted by critics of the Modi government as an attempt to cultivate goodwill with Patnaik. Patnaik's BJD has supported the BJP on numerous legislations in Parliament, but has otherwise kept a distance from the saffron party, which has emerged as the main opposition party in Odisha. Patnaik recently declared the BJD would stay equidistant from both the BJP and Congress.
