FROM actors to astrologers, a chef to a carpet manufacturer, an author of a book on Akhilesh Yadav to even a compere hosting the show on stage. For over an hour in Lucknow Thursday, the bitter political wrangling within the Samajwadi Party receded to the background as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav handed over the state government’s Yash Bharti awards to 71 people for their contributions in the field of culture.
It did not matter that many of the award-winners, such as carpet manufacturer Gulham Shafarruddin, were associated with the ruling SP. Or that the awards, instituted by Akhilesh’s father and former UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadavin 1994, were being handed over for the second time this year.
All that mattered, according to Culture Minister Arun Kumari Kori, was the Chief Minister’s “generous heart”. “Yeh pehli baar hua hai kyunki mukhyamantriji ka dil udaar hai (This is happening for the first time because the Chief Minister has a generous heart),” Kori told The Indian Express.
Government officials, meanwhile, pointed to the assembly elections around the corner and clarified that this set of awards — each carrying a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh and Rs 50,000 in monthly pension — was for 2016-17, given in advance.
On Thursday, such was the mood on stage that the Chief Minister decided during the function to hand over an award to the compere Archana Satish, who anchors programmes on Doordarshan, leading to a frantic hunt for an additional bouquet and a shawl.
