Shabana Azami took to Twitter and shared the picture of Javed Akhtar sitting on the sofa, holding the Richard Dawkins Award. She tweeted, "@Javedakhtarjadu with his prized #Richard Dawkins 2020 Award." On Saturday, the poet and Richard Dawkins had interacted with each other during a virtual conversation amid the award ceremony. Check out the proud wife tweet here -
@Javedakhtarjadu with his prized #Richard Dawkins 2020 Award. pic.twitter.com/P8oxeHKnFl
— Azmi Shabana (@AzmiShabana) October 26, 2020
The 75-year-old poet has become the first Indian to win the Richard Dawkins Award 2020 for critical thinking, advancing human progress and humanist values. The award, which is named after English evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, has been presented since 2003. In an interview with a media channel, Javed Akhtar said, `I wasn't sure that these people would know what I am saying, what I am writing, what I am speaking from different podiums. But thank you very much. Mr Richard Dawkins' letter was a very very pleasant surprise."
Previously, it has been said that Javed had not won the award and Akhtar mistook his nomination as an actual victory, responding to the allegations, Shabana Azami said, `This is patently untrue! We have an email from Richard Dawkins on 5th June offering the award and also from Robyn Blumner who heads the Centre for Inquiry, USA. I feel sad for these pathetic trolls who do not care that they will stand exposed in seconds for such a preposterous claim.`
