My hatred for UPA has reached the threshold. How could they
even think of tweaking the eligibility criteria for the nation’s highest civilian
award, just so that some influential people could get it? By the time I publish
this, all Sachin’s fans must be ready with rotten tomatoes, but I have to say
it. Sachin Tendulkar getting Bharata Ratna just on the basis of appreciating
his aptitude in cricket is not justified in anyway.
UPA’s new eligibility for Bharata Ratna “any human being who has excelled in just any field of human
endeavour” is
absolutely flawed. If this is the measure, then Rajnikanth, N.R Narayana Murthy
and Rajdeep Sardesai are also eligible to be awarded Bharata Ratna because they
have excelled in some field of human endeavor. With this new eligibility,
Bharata Ratna’s caliber has been brought down to a sms voting contest on a television
reality show. With this, UPA has added one more feather to its hall of shame.
In India, it doesn’t come as a surprise that celebrities
like Sachin and SRK get superfluous recognition than people like CNR Rao and
Sam Pitroda because of the unwanted importance given to entertainment sector. It’s
true that when Sachin plays with full command, the whole world is watching. But,
Sachin, other than entertaining a billion Indians a million times, hasn’t done
anything humanitarian. He’s more of a mass entertainer than a real hero. They
call him the god of cricket. But how many times his leadership skills are
questioned? It’s a fact that everyone has to agree that Sachin (alone) did not
bring back the world cup to India.
I feel Sachin don’t deserve Bharata Ratna on the simple
grounds that most of the past (I don’t say all) Bharata Ratna Awardees have
dedicated their lives to the service of mankind, for the goodwill and
betterment of India. Sachin’s sportsmanship and mass entertainment should not
be compared to the humanitarian works of Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa or
the pioneers of science like Abdul Kalam and C.V Raman or the statesmanship of
Vishveshvaraya. It makes no sense at all for someone to be awarded the highest
civilian award of a nation for his individual sporting talent.
Personally, I don’t have anything against Sachin. In fact,
I’ve always loved his cricketing skills. But Bharata Ratna is deserved to be
awarded to people who have displayed remarkable level of integrity,
punctuality, quality, reliability and purity in their field of endeavors.
Bharata Ratna– “The Jewel of India” if awarded to individual talents ; no more
remains the highest honorary award of India.
Let Sachin remain the “Jewel of Indian cricket” and Bharata Ratna, continue to be awarded to the real “Jewels of India”
Image source: reuters.com and wikipedia
