An event to honor Booker Prize winner cancelled on complaint of insulting Lord Shiva

AGRA: The event to felicitate International Booker Prize-2022 winner Geentanjali Shree in Agra on 30^th July was called off by organizers due to a complaint filed with the police over the content of her award winning book ‘Ret Samadhi’ (Tomb of Sand).

The complainant Sandeep Kumar Pathak, a resident of Sadabad town in Hathras, had alleged in a written complaint that Geetanjali Shree made objectionable comments on Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati in her acclaimed novel hurting sentiments of Hindus.

The event was organized by two cultural organizations of Agra, ‘Rangleela’, which is involved in promotion and revival of theatre activities and ‘Agra Theatre Club’ that had recently declared hosting the event to honor author Geetanjali Shree.

The Hindustan Times reported, the organizers of the event in a joint statement said, “There was a lot of enthusiasm for the event as Geetanjali Shree was born in Mainpuri while her father was an IAS officer in this district of Agra division. The writer did her schooling in different districts of Uttar Pradesh. It is really sad that the event had to be called off in such a manner. Preparations were in final stages but due to the complaints, the event got cancelled.”

Anil Shukla from ‘Rangleela’ further added, “The author said there was a failed attempt allegedly by a student group of ABVP to sabotage her event when she was attending a felicitation function organised by the teacher’s union at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi a couple of days ago.”

According to the organizers, author Geetanjali Shree defended the contents of her book based on Indian mythology said there was no intention to insult anybody’s sentiments.

There was no direct response from the author and when contacted by the reporters she refused to comment on the event.

It is to be noted that even after winning Geetanjali Shree prestigious International Booker Prize in May, she has not received congratulations from any top government representatives. Even to the amusement her achievement was not even hyped by the media as they promote other Indian achievements. Shree is a celebrated Hindi writer who has authored five novels and five short stories till now.