A controversy over the ‘joint’ decision of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI (M), to decline the 2022 Ramon Magsaysay Award nomination for former Kerala Health Minister K.K. Shailaja has brought into focus the prize and the former Philippines President in whose name the award was instituted in 1957.
Though the CPI(M) has cited the ‘anti-communist’ stance of Ramon Magsaysay in his political career to justify its decision, the party has come under strong criticism for rejecting the prestigious award that has exponentially grown in stature since its inception six decades ago. Regarded as the Asian equivalent of the Nobel, the Ramon Magsaysay Award has over the years established its independent legacy, with the late President in whose name the award was instituted shifting to the background.
