Legendary Singer Sandhya Mukherjee Rejects Padma Shri Offer
Guwahati: After Former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, veteran Bengali singer Sandhya Mukherjee refused to receive the Padma Shri award bestowed by the Indian government on Tuesday.
According to reports, the singing legend also known as Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, turned down an offer of a Padma Shri award after being approached by central government authorities over the phone.
On the eve of Republic Day on Tuesday evening, the Indian government published the list of recipients. Mukherjee’s name does not appear on the list of 117 Padma Shri awardees this year.
After the government announced that former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the third-highest civilian award will be given the Padma Bhushan award, the Senior Communist leader issued a statement saying, “If I am given the Padma Bhushan award, I would reject it.”
According to government sources, stated that his family was notified about it first thing in the morning and that no intention of rejection was communicated at the time.
However, on the eve of the 73rd Republic Day the government unveiled 17 Padma Bhushan winners including Bhattacharjee.