The Bharat Ratna – the season is
in vogue again, and with the Independence Day approaching near and a new
government in the office with a new ideology and pushing for more and more of
symbols fitting in that ideology – the annual process of selecting the ‘gems’
and ‘luminaries’ of the nation is gaining feverish pitch.
It happens every year, more so in
the recent years, with the round the clock media coverage amplifying the scope
of the controversy! This year, it is different because of the new government in
the office.
The other category of ‘considered
highly decorated civilian awards’ - the Padma Awards, announced on Republic
Day, are mostly seen as falling in the category of ‘obliging’ or ‘patronizing’
and lobbying-for-the-award reports make regular headlines.
Yes, there have been worthy
claimants and right decisions but the ‘at will’ distribution has sullied the
reputation of the Padma Awards with controversial or not-up to-the-mark names
like q Sant Singh Chatwal, or a Saif Ali Khan, or a Chitranjan Ranawat. The
list is long and the run of controversies is endless.
And the Bharat Ratna is slipping to
the similar practices.
Yes, the recipients so far have
been beyond the shadow of doubt except the last year and the row
year-after-year, where there has been a row, has been basically about ‘who is
left out of the list’.
Now, a maximum of three people can
be awarded the Bharat Ratna in a year. So far, 43 individuals have been
honoured with the Bharat Ratna. 11 of them were recognized posthumously for
their contribution. There have been years of multiple awardees and there have
been years when no one was found fit, an anomaly, when the controversy has been
evergreen on ‘many left out names’.
Yes, there are many more names
deserving this honour and they have been left our due to the political reasons
and nothing else.
And this ‘deliberately ignored or
left-out names’ is getting more and more biased.
A Congress-led government would
never consider names like Atal Bihari Vajpayee or Veer Sawarkar and would award
Rajiv Gandhi before awarding Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Rajiv Gandhi – 1990 / Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel – 1991).
A Bhartiya Janata Party-led
government would do the opposite. The natural choice for it would be Atal Bihari
Vajpayee or many other worthy names Congress and other so-called secular
parties would never even think about, though names like Atal Bihari Vajpayee or
Major Dhyanchand should be acceptable to all.
Yes, it was a silly and
unacceptable decision to choose Sachin Tendulkar over Major Dhyanchand last
year.
And names like Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel or Subhash Chandra Bose should never be made part of this ring of
politics.
Like Mahatma Gandhi is beyond the
likes of the Nobel Prize, greats like Patel or Bose are beyond the reach of
awards like the Bharat Ratna. They are not honoured by the awards; rather, the
awards get the sanctity when embraced by them.
