Smriti Irani seems to be the proverbial “controversy’s favourite child” whether it was her purported degree from Yale or a series of gaffes during her tenure as Union HRD Minister and the latest “ National Film Awards. The tradition has been that the National Film Awards are handed out on May 3 each year by the President in an official ceremony in New Delhi. However, on the eve of Awards this year, it was announced that the President would hand out only select awards and the rest would be given by I&B Minister Smriti Irani. Many awardees threatened to boycott the ceremony as they were unhappy about the move. The President has a largely ceremonial role including conferring of National Awards. If the President indeed had a pressing condition or reason which prevented him from attending the ceremony for more than an hour, he could have given the National Film Awards in a two-phase award ceremony, as in the case of the Civil and Defence awards announced each year on the eve of Republic Day. The President should not forego an opportunity to interact with the common citizenry including film makers. While President Pranab Mukherjee made a marked attempt to connect to the people and shed the baggage which was for long attached to the President’s post, President Ramnath Kovind should not tread upon any step which would make his tenure controversial or lacklustre. The I&B Minister could have worked out a better solution to this problem, by organising the award ceremony in multiple phases.
Vikas Kamat, Margao
