Poet Surjit Patar to return Padma Shri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 7

“Punjab has won the first battle for the country. So, it is time to celebrate.” This was poet Surjit Patar’s first reaction

after he announced

returning his Padma Shri on Monday in solidarity with the farmers’ protest.

Patar was bestowed with the Padma award in 2012. Earlier, protesting over the issue of intolerance in the country in 2015, he had returned the Sahitya Akademi award.

The poet said, “The insensitivity shown towards the peaceful struggle of farmers by the Central Government has pained me. It is an insult to the emotions of people the way the government labelled the protesting farmers and labourers as directionless people. With a broken heart, I announce to return the Padma Shri.”

He said the farmers of Punjab had given a new vocabulary to the country. “They have shown that a struggle can be led in such a cultured manner along with our mothers and daughters. Even in such a tense situation, we can feed anybody without bothering on which side of the fence one is,” he said. Earlier, Akali Dal stalwart and former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had returned his Padma Vibhushan award in protest against the farm laws. SAD (Democratic) leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa had also said he would return his Padma Bhushan award in solidarity with the farmers.

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