KK Shailaja turns down Magsaysay Award, Yechury calls Magsaysay 'brutal oppressor' of Communists 

Senior CPI(M) leader and former Kerala health minister KK Shailaja has declined to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award. She was chosen for her role during the Nipah outbreak in the state and later COVID-19. Shailaja told reporters in Kerala that she declined the award as she was not interested in receiving it in her individual capacity. Later, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury backed her decision by saying that the award was instituted in the name of late President of the Philippines, who was a "known brutal oppressor" of the Communists.

"...This award is in the name of Ramon Magsaysay who has the history of brutal oppression of the communists in the Philippines. So, for all these factors together, she politely refused it," Yechury said.

The former health minister said she was considered for the award for the work which was actually part of a collective effort and it was not right to receive it in her individual capacity. A Central committee member of the CPI(M), Shailaja reportedly took the decision after consulting the party's national leadership.

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"The NGOs may not be in favour of the Communist ideology. And hence it was not right that I receive it as an individual because I was considered for something which was actually part of a collective effort. So, I decided not to accept the award. I thanked them and politely refused the award saying I was not interested in receiving it in an individual capacity," Shailaja said.

Yechury also reiterated the stance and told reporters in New Delhi that the award was being given for the manner in which the public health issues have been managed in Kerala. "This is a collective effort of the LDF government and the Health Department in Kerala. So, this is not any individual effort," Yechury said.

He said the Magsaysay Award has not been given to any active politician so far and the Central committee is the highest decision-making body of the party. Several other Left leaders also claimed that Magsaysay was a staunch anti-Communist who oversaw the defeat of Communists (Hukbalahap, a Communist guerrilla movement formed by the farmers of Central Luzon) in the Philippines in the 1950s.

The Ramon Magsaysay Awards were established in 1957 by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) to honour the late President of the Philippineswho died in a plane crash in March 1957. Past Indian awardees include, filmmaker Satyajit Ray, cartoonist R K Laxman, former election commissioner TN Sheshan, singer MS Subbulakshmi, scientist MS Swaminathan, former Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

(With inputs from agencies)