Criticism of the Government's choice by the Modi government for India's highest award reveals the smallness of our political spirit



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The controversy surrounding the winners of the Bharat Ratna Award is another example of how the Narendra Modi government can never do anything good in the eyes of the old institution.

It is conceivable that the current government conferred decoration on Sonia Gandhi. she would have attracted critics from the same neighborhood.

But first, let's say beforehand, the critics were in bad taste and the media did not help the cause of protecting the prestige of the awards by stirring up the debate with his #hashtag journalism. Whatever the selection process, be it Nobel Prize or Ratna, one can always think that some others deserved just as much. But denigrating a recipient as a mere "gayak" (singer), as did Mallikarjun Kharge, of Congress, shows a singular lack of grace.

In contrast, Salman Khurshid met with much more grace and circumspection . ]. In addition to his origins in Oxbridge, Khurshid is the grandson of another Bharat Ratna – Dr. Zakir Hussain – so we can expect nothing less elegant. With the characteristic sweetness, he said, guessing who another party or government would have chosen would be pure speculation.

It is not for the first time that the Bharat Ratna waved a nest of hornets. In the past, awards have not only been the subject of political struggles, but have also been challenged in court more than once.

 pranab-story_012819022616.jpg Does the Congress suggest that Pranab Mukherjee, senior politician and former president, is unworthy of great honor? (Photo: PTI)

The government had to withdraw the press release announcing the Bharat Ratna posthumously to Subhas Chandra Bose under the orders of the Supreme Court.

In an IPL filed in Parliament The High Court of Calcutta, the petitioner, questioned how Bose could be awarded "posthumously" while the government had not officially accepted his death – a good point technical. Bose's family members have also expressed reluctance to accept the award.

Charges of political connotations are not new either. Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were both charged with regional appeasement when they awarded Bharat Ratnas posthumously to K Kamaraj and MG Ramachandran respectively – just before the elections.

Of course, there were the clbadic cases of two prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, receiving the Bharat Ratna during their own government.

So why this fury now?

It is undeniable that part of the elite and political clbades still have to accept the legitimacy of this democratically elected government. And their hostility is only intensifying as the government approaches the end of its mandate.

 nehru-indira_012819022652.jpg There were the two prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, who received Bharat Ratnas during their own rule. (Photo: India Today)

Confident of a regime change in the next election, they began to view it as an interim government led by a lame prime minister, keeping the seat warm for them. just. leaders to come back. Thus, every significant political movement of the government is disputed as having gone beyond its mandate.

But in the case of Bharat Ratna, the problem is elsewhere.

When the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya was awarded Bharat Ratna in 2015, there were some murmurs. Janardan Dwivedi of the Congress claimed that Malaviya, who worked mainly in Varanasi, had been "deliberately chosen" by Prime Minister Modi, outgoing deputy of Varanasi.

However, critics were rejected. Malaviya, a founding member of All India Hindu Mahasabha, was also president of the Indian National Congress for four terms, in addition to being the founder of Haloed Hindu University (BHU). But, by naming Nanaji Deshmukh, Modi has hit the heart of "the ecosystem" so to speak, who considers any unaccountable person of Gandhi-Nehru's legacy as an outcast.

 madan-mohan-malviya_012819022725. jpg There were rumors when the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya received the Bharat Ratna in 2015. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

It's another matter to criticize the Nanaji Deshmukh's choice Because of his roots in Jana Sangh and RSS, people display a pathetic lack of knowledge about his life and work.

This also betrays the bias and pettiness rooted in our political psyche by the domination of a singular stream of thought – worldview, whoever does not have the blessing of the certified intellectuals does not. is just not kosher.

Thus, during all these years, rarely anyone on the other side of the door, much less a different ideology, was he honored with national awards by the So even somebody of such a moderate and non-polarizer, like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had left politics for practical reasons after 2004, had to wait for the BJP to come to power for that honor.

It is precisely this discriminatory state of mind that provoked the kind of nationalist reaction, evident in the BJP's new fame or the celebration of alternative national heroes such as Patel and Bose Subhas.

But choosing someone from the RSS Hall of Fame was a way to go for it. a snook to his opponents, who have long treated the Sangh as an anathema.

However, awarding Pranab Mukherjee takes a bath of salt on the wound to another level.

In the current context, no non-Gandhi congressman, past or present, can dream of being awarded the Bharat Ratna, as deserving as it is.

If PV Narasimha Rao could not make the cut, Mukherjee was even less fortunate. He was neglected for the post of Prime Minister not one, but twice, and was even excluded from any temporary charge, being the highest cabinet official when Manmohan Singh was on extended sick leave for his bypbad surgery multiple heart.

It was a strong message. 19659005]  nanaji-deshmukh_012819022806.jpg Those who criticize the choice of Nanaji Deshmukh, because of her roots in Jana Sangh-RSS, display their pathetic lack of knowledge. (Photo: Narendramodi.in)

First, this was a signal to all members of Congress indicating that there is a life beyond Congress. You must not depend on the largesse of the family to obtain your just recognition.

Secondly, this places the BJP and Narendra Modi on a higher pedestal – making them seem non-partisan and heart-loving.

Finally, it is also a nod to leaders like Sharad Pawar, who chose to settle comfortably in front of the Congress.

Pranab Mukherjee's reward is something Congress can not reject or swallow. Thus, after this unenthusiastic recognition, the party dropped its proxies that Mukherjee should be considered as the favorite of an industrial group and someone who apparently had been discovered among the good works of the high command. RSS.

Without a doubt, it is unfair to Mukherjee, who for decades has been at the center of national political concerns and imposes respect on both sides of the political divide.

His last wins at Rashtrapati Bhavan were a manual performance. He developed a positive working relationship with the UPA and NDA governments, while maintaining the high dignity of the office.

Pranab Mukherjee is a deeply tarnished Congressman – with whom Modi could work together. mutual respect and understanding is an enormous testimony to the maturity and political sense of the two men.

It can be argued that if Congress and other opposition parties were inspired by Pranab Mukherjee and did not adopt disruptive and confrontational behavior. to support the Modi government from the beginning, we may have had five more productive years in Parliament. But do not go astray.

Congress shows bad faith in opposing the perceived openings of the BJP over Northeast and Bengal, Bharat Ratnas for Bhupen Hazarika and Pranab Mukherjee, expressing Lingayat's feeling in the South by making the more sensitive problem. Shivakumara Swami, seer of Karnataka, does not appear on the list of honor.

Similarly, Baba Ramdev's suggestion on Bharat Ratna for the saints is devoid of a spiritual character.

Kharge and Ramdev both know that a BJP government granting the country's highest civil distinction to a saint Lingayat would have entered a minefield with other religious groups demanding similar recognition of their own spiritual leaders.

This argument is separate. that the Karnataka government did not send a nomination request for Swami, nor did the UPA consider the revered sage of Bharat Ratna during his long reign.

 modi-seer_012819023330.jpg Would the great saint have power? want or need a Bharat Ratna? (Twitter / @narendramodi)

In addition, there is talk of conjecture if a true spiritual leader would ever want to obtain "sarkari" recognitions. The chances are that the Swami, during his lifetime, would not have accepted such a price.

The list of people to whom Bharat Ratna was asked is endless – from Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi (whose work precedes the institution of the award) to more recent politicians such as Jyoti Basu , NT Rama Rao and Kanshi Ram.

The prize awarded to Sachin Tendulkar raised questions about other iconic Indian athletes like Dhyan Chand, who had been left out. When Congress awarded Bharat Ratna to Dr. CNR Rao in 2013, it was reported that Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai had made much more lasting and important contributions to science and DIPs were filed challenging the choice. It can therefore be said that Bharat Ratna's opaque and discretionary selection process makes him politically-minded and open to controversy.

The Modi government did well to democratize the process of electing the Padma Awards. For four years, many strangers performing extraordinary work have been recognized – making it truly the "Padma of the people"

We hope we will not return to the time when we could do pressure to obtain rewards or politically manipulate the system. 19659005] There is an apocryphal story about a former president proposing the name of his personal nurse for Padma Shree. There were unconfirmed rumors about a sitar maestro lobbying for Ratna. Therefore, perhaps the moment has come to review the process of selecting the huge reward.

Although it may not be possible to make it completely transparent, it could be significantly more structured. A bipartite committee of eminent persons could perhaps review an invitation system to submit nominations before submitting it to the Prime Minister's Office for final decision.

Or we can leave it as it is.

After all, we all like hashtags and controversies.

See also: MISA, Urgency, Forced Sterilization: Why Does Priyanka Gandhi Look Like Indira Gandhi?

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