Does politics overshadow the majesty of National Awards?
Narendra Modi government has come up with a decision to confer the Bharat
Ratna on the late Assamese singer Bhupen Hazarika, who contested on the BJP
ticket in the 2004 Lok Sabha election, and the late Nanaji Deshmukh who was a
Bharatiya Jan Sangh leader and social activist. Former President Pranab
Mukherjee is also chosen. Prime
Minister Modi described him as “an outstanding statesman of our times”. The fact that he agreed to speak at an RSS
event in spite of disapproval of the Congress party was a reason.
Has competitive politics overshadowed the majesty of the National Awards? Transparency is not easy to achieve, and
fairness is difficult to establish. But Pranab Mukherjee is a good candidate
who proved that no one including RSS is an untouchable in India in the true
sense. Recognizing people from different part of the country will also go a
long way in making the public of that region will feel part of the proceedings
of the country.
During INC and UPA's time, a lot of undeserving candidates were
nominated. Rajiv Gandhi's sole merit is that he is from INC and was
assassinated. Sachin Tendulkar though deserving got it too much ahead of time
before he could get a reputation of having carried rest of his life as a model
for people at large. Awarding him was a political gimmick to garner some votes
from Maharashtra.
National Awards should be given only to those who have done yeomen
service right through their life and towards twilight of their life when they
have hung up their boots from public life. Rewarding posthumously is also a
requirement for rewarding personalities who either die in office or on the
panel that decides the recipients - for example prime minister.
Today, if the Narendra Modi government were to award even Sonia Gandhi,
the decision would be met with derision and mocking. Such is the level of bias
and prejudice against a government perceived as not of the 'traditional
establishment'.The Modi government has done well to democratise the election
process for the Padma Awards. Many unknown people doing extraordinary work have
been recognised over the past four years - making it truly the “People’s Padma”.
Now, going through the list of all awardees so far objectively, one will
find that there is nothing special to question Modi government's list as such.
The suggestion to stop giving awards posthumously is not not right. It is in
fact better to give such awards posthumously only.
Metro Man Sridharan deserves it easily. Late Dr M Balamuralikrishna, one
of India's foremost Karnataic musicians, once lamented, while interacting in a
TV Program connected with Music Competition for children: Who are those
selecting and awarding people? Do they have enough competence to do that? This
transcends into all systems of Award "giving", which seem to have
been cornered by Politico-Officer nexus - real stalwarts and talents are often
sidelined and awards become a tool to score points - political and social. Let
us look at some REAL Stalwarts who had almost revolutionized many things in
their respective fields: Dr Varghese Kurian, the man who made "Milk
revolution", from starting in a simple less than 1500 sq Ft area
work-shop; Dr M Balamuralikrishna, one of India's greatest Karnatic Musicians;
Baba Amte, a selfless Social activist; Dilip Kumar, a stalwart Hindi Actor,
almost unmatched in quality, till date; E Sreedharan, the "Metroman"
who is unmatched - to name a few. There is need for a Transparent Yardstick
The award Bharat Ratna must be given only on genuine and bonafide
deserving and not for fulfilling political commitments.
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