The Hindutva figures who are known to have sown the seeds of Hindutva ideology in Indian politics, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Madan Mohan Malaviya, have had their names given to a number of literary awards and honours instituted by the Delhi government's Hindi Academy, with newly constituted awards also being named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and late BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra.
The academy's most prestigious distinction, the Hindi Academy Shalaka Samman, has been rechristened as the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Shalaka Samman and, while retaining its position as the institution's highest literary honour, now carries an enhanced cash prize of Rs 7 lakh instead of the earlier Rs 5 lakh.
Simultaneously, the newly instituted Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bharatiya Sanskriti and Gyan Parampara Samman, intended to recognise contributions towards the promotion of Indian culture and knowledge traditions, has been endowed with a purse of Rs 5 lakh.
Several other honours have likewise been renamed or introduced, with the Veer Savarkar Samman for national consciousness, the Sant Ravidas Sahitya Samman and the Rani Ahilyabai Holkar Samman for women litterateurs, each carrying a cash award of Rs 2 lakh.
The women's literature award, however, had previously commemorated Santosh Koli, the anti-corruption activist whose death in a road accident prompted the Aam Aadmi Party government to institute the honour in her memory.
Awards carrying prize money of Rs 1 lakh each include the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hindi Sahityakar Samman, the Baba Jorawar Singh Samman for children's literature, the Swami Vivekanand Yuva Pratibha Samman, the Vidya Niwas Mishra Samman for Hindi journalism and the Dr Vijay Kumar Malhotra Hindi Sevi Samman for contributions to the promotion of Hindi.
The academy has further announced distinctions such as the Nirmal Verma Samman for translation, the Ramchandra Shukla Hindi Utkarsh Samman, the Vasudev Sharan Agrawal Samman for folk literature, the Devendra Swaroop Samman for writings on subjects including science, economics, history and sociology, the Mridula Sinha Samman for women writers and the Narendra Kohli Samman recognising contributions across literary genres.
Inviting applications for the academic years 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26, the Hindi Academy stated that eligible litterateurs, poets and journalists from the Delhi-NCR region could apply until June 23, while a total of 16 honours would be conferred under the Sahityakar Samman Yojana.
The decision, nevertheless, has drawn criticism from journalist and editor Pankaj Chaturvedi, who alleged that literary distinctions had been appropriated for political purposes, and it arrives against the backdrop of persistent accusations by critics that the BJP is pursuing the "saffronisation" of educational, cultural and public institutions through the elevation of personalities associated with the Hindutva tradition.