Like most
prestigious awards in the world, our own 'crown jewel' of awards - the Bharat
Ratna is mired with insider trading vested interests. If you run through
the list of 41 Bharat Ratna awardees in the past 60 years, you will see that
the majority of politician recipients are congressmen or congress allies.
Glaring among them are the dynastic rulers - Nehru, Indira and Rajiv.
Considering that these are awards given by the President of India on the recommendation
of the Prime Minister, the dynasty has self awarded it shamelessly. Some
tall national leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr Ambedkar were
awarded posthumously after four and three decades of their death respectively, just
in order to be politically correct, but the dynastic rulers of Nehru family
enjoyed it all during their life.
Sooner or later, our
lame duck Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singhji and their larger than life
benefactor Madam Sonia Gandhi ji will be awarded this coveted title. And
Rahul is undoubtedly standing in queue and is readying his make-up for the
ceremony. If Congress comes back to power, you will watch my words coming
true. But the nation is surely in another mood this time.
I often think that
like the Nobel Peace Prize disgracing itself by not being conferred on Mahatma
Gandhi, Bharat Ratna is also being disgraced by the petty politics surrounding
it. There is also this wide disparity in the calibre of people who
received Bharat Ratna. Rajiv Gandhi is no comparison to Sardar Patel, for
example. Indira Gandhi disgraced the constitution by her dictatorial
actions while Ambedkar brought it to life, upholding the democratic principles.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who epitomized self-less politics of patriotism
like Lal Bahadur Shastri was not considered for the award because he did not
belong to Congress party in the end. Not naming, I can see some congress
sycophants in the list of Bharat Ratna awardees. It has been an award
that has lost its grace, dignity and high standards of recognition. On
hindsight, it is good that the Bharat Ratna was not awarded to Mahatma Gandhi
as we Indians would not like to see him in the same league of his namesakes.
The table
below speak volumes about how dynastic rulers of Nehru family enjoyed Bharat
Ratan, all during their life.
No
Name
Died
Awarded in Time gap in getting Award
1. Jawahar Lal
Nehru 1964
1955
9 yrs before his death
2. Indira Gandhi
1984
1971
13 yrs before her death
3. Rajiv
Gandhi
1991
1991
Same year of his death
4. Sardar Vallabbhai
Patel 1950 1991
41 yrs after his death
5. Dr Bhimrao
Ambedkar 1956
1990
34 yrs after his death
V K Saxena
President
National Council for Civil Liberties
Ahmedabad
