Politicising the Bharat Ratna: Modi govt suggests Netaji, courts trouble

Soon after news trickled in that former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose might be awarded the Bharat Ratna, the Modi government ran into a bout of fresh controversy. While the Congress immediately declared that BSP founder Kanshi Ram and Aligharh Muslim University founder Sir Syed Ahmed Khan should also be considered for the country’s highest civilian award, Sugato Bose, TMC MP and grand nephew of the Netaji, said that leaders such as Subhas Chandra Bose should be kept out of the ambit of such awards. He said that crusaders such as Bose and Mahatma Gandhi shouldn’t be turned into pawns in a game of ‘partisan politics’. The Hindustan Times quotes him as saying, “Keep Netaji out of partisan politics… How can Netaji be given Bharat Ratna after Rajiv Gandhi? Anyone with a sense of history will agree with me.” [caption id=“attachment_1658245” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Reuters.[/caption] He also told PTI, “The best way to honour him is to declassify government files which can reveal the truth behind his disappearance.” On the other hand, Congress, true to its form, questioned the personalities chosen by the Modi government and batted for Kanshi Ram and Syed Ahmed Khan. It seemed that ahead of the state Assembly polls, the Congress was keen to up the ante against the NDA government, implying that the latter is anti-religious minorities and Dalits. After Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi questioned the Modi government’s move, the party has now decided to take the issue up in the Parliament. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari sought that others including Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Lala Lajpat Rai also be considered for the Bharat Ratna. “If govt going the historical route on Bharat Ratnas it should also consider the names of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukdev, Lala Lajpat Rai…,” he wrote on Twitter. Tewari also suggested names of founders of the INA Rash Behari Bose, Gen Mohan Singh, Annie Besant & AO Hume and Gopal Krishna Gokhale in his tweet. Sugato Bose, a Trinamool MP, a party which is neither an ally of the Congress or the BJP,  sought to criticise the decisions of both parties accusing them of using personalities like Gandhi and Bose to further their own petty interests. This isn’t the first time that the Bharat Ratna has sparked controversy. And a move to award Subhas Chandra Bose the award has run into trouble earlier too.. In 1992, a press release published by the President’s Secretariat announced that Subhas Chandra Bose would be awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously. However, protests followed and a PIL was filed questioning the appropriateness of awarding the Bharat Ratna to Bose, notes Wikipedia. The petitioner questioned if the government was placing Bose, a fiery freedom fighter who went missing in 1945, at par with other politicians and personalities who had received the award. It was argued that Bose was much above the other recipients of the award in terms of his contribution to India. It was also pointed out that the government of India had not officially accepted the fact of his death. Later, the Supreme Court dismissed the Congress government’s decision. A report published in 1997 in  The Indian Express said, “The declaration by a Division Bench comprising Justice Sujatha V Manohar and Justice G B Pattanaik came after the Union Government stated on affidavit that in deference to the sentiments expressed by the public and members of the family of Netaji, the Government of India did not proceed further to confer the award.” In 2013, the BJP demanded that Amartya Sen’s Bharat Ratna be withdrawn after he said that he didn’t want to see Narendra Modi as the country’s Prime Minister. There was also a report on how the UPA government scrapped their initial decision to award hockey great Dhyan Chand the Bharat Ratna and hurriedly decided to confer it on Sachin Tendulkar instead. Firstpost had noted , “One can guess why the UPA government must have been desperate to give Tendulkar the award last year. Given the dire straits it was in and how influential a youth icon Sachin Tendulkar is, awarding the cricketer would help the government tap into mass youth sentiment. That the move didn’t yield the desired result in the polls, is a different story altogether.” Seems like that this year too, the Bharat Ratna will earn its share of controversy.