Ulfa rues award to Sharmila Tagore

Outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) has criticised the Assam government for conferring the Srimanta Sankardeva award on actor Sharmila Tagore. The award was given away to Sharmila by president Pranab Mukherjee in Guwahati on Monday for her “rich contribution to India’s cultural life”.

The state government has instituted the award to honour persons of eminence in the fields of journalism, art, culture and literature.

The Ulfa’s contention is that government selected someone for the award who has done nothing to spread the teachings and ideals of the 15th century Vaishnavite saint-reformer in whose honour it was instituted.

“We view that the award conferred on Hindi cinema’s bikini girl Begum Ayesha Sultana (Sharmila Tagore) was a national insult,” an emailed statement issued by Ulfa (independent) publicity secretary Arunodoi Asom said. The faction is led by elusive Paresh Baruah.

“Sharmila has not worked towards spreading Sankardeva’s teachings. So, where is the logic behind her selection for the prestigious award?,” the faction asked. It said that by conferring the award on Sharmila, the government had undervalued the state’s greatest saint-reformer.