Spot the Rathna

After 2001, the nation has gone without a Bharat Ratna for six years on the trot. Not that the nation is any poorer because of that, but it surely reflects the poverty of eminence. Or it is also possible that it exposes the inability of the country to look in the right places. But whatever the reason, the fact is that no human Gem (or Jewel), which is what ‘ratna’ means, has been deemed good enough to qualify for the highest civilian award of the country, and at first thought, this itself is no honour for a nation of over 100 crores.

There have been occasions when the BR and the Padma awards were held back. For instance, between 1977 and 1980, conferment of BR was officially suspended. Again, no Padma awards were announced from 1993 to 1997 because the Govenment decided to keep them in abeyance till the ‘constitutional issues’ were resolved in the courts. The law as laid down by a Supreme Court judgment of 1995 is that these national awards are decorations and not titles (which are prohibited by Article 18 (1) of the Constitution) and they should not be used as suffixes or prefixes. There is clearly no constitutional, official or legal hurdles in announcing the BR awards in the last six years. Patently, there is no political will and commitment on the part of the rulers to maintain this tradition. And thankfully at that, on second thoughts, because the on going political auction of the award proves that the nation’s pride would be salvaged only if the award is not given!

That would be a sad thing though; yet another institution falling prey to the machinations of our politicos. But this is nothing new w.r. to BRs. The historic reality is that the BR even in those seemingly innocent and respectable times, has often been used as a political tool or a populist toy. The BR award was born out of the initiative of Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of our Republic, who launched it in all earnestness on January 2 1952 ‘to recognise exceptional service towrds the advancement of Art, Literature and Science and also in recognition of public service of the highest order’. Though there was always some politics in recognising greatness in arts, science etc, the latter part, ie., ‘public service’ offered a wider lattitude for our politicos to play around. Small wonder that besides some politicos becoming rathnas overnight, the award, along with the Padma awards, also came in handy for dispensing patronage or rewarding loyalties.

Some BRs speaketh for themselves: VVGiri, for one. Indira Gandhi ‘recognised’ him for his sterling services to you-know-who. MGR was posthumously conferred the honour by Rajiv’s Cong regime which in 1988, was seeking to re-establish ‘Kamaraj rule’ in TN; capitalising on MGR’s goodname was seen as a good electoral ploy. The BR was less of a recognition and more a bribe to MGR’s admirers. President Dr Rajender Prasad, who initiated the award, was a recipient in 1962 and he was supposed to have resisted it on that count. Dr Zakir Hussaein, Dr S.Radhakrishnan and Dr Abdul Kalam, all became rathnas first and Presidents later. Rajaji and Lal Bahadur Shastri (posthumous) are a few other political awardees, but none can question these choices.

By procedure, the BR awardee is decided at the sole discretion of the PM and so when Nehru, as PM, himself became the awardee in 1955, eyebrows were naturally raised. But since N qualified as a freedom fighter, the seeming impropriety was soon glossed over. However, PM Indira Gandhi conferring the BR on herself in 1971 caused quite a furore. Rajiv became a posthumous Gem of India, making it three for the family. Perhaps, there is a clue here for PM M Singh to tide over the current hunt for rathnas; he could use his ‘super discretion’ and make the gem a truly family heirloom by nominating Sonia! I am sure the bright idea would have crossed his mind as well as many Congmens’, particularly in the light of other political claimants. It won’t be totally amiss either, because Mother Teresa, a naturalised Indian, ‘Frontier Gandhi’ Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pak national and Nelson Mandela are already recipients. Indeed, if there is a shortage of home-made rathnas, what’s wrong in importing?

That brings us to the current rathna-rush. Advani set the political ball rolling by pitching for Vajpayee. That was his way of rendering a thanks-giving to the latter for having cleared the way to PMO. Soon, it was the turn of Mayawati to solicit it for Kanshi Ram. Junior Patnaik promptly wanted one for his long dead dad Biju. The Samajwadi party declared Mulayam as the undisputed choice. The social justice chaps are championing the case of their own mentors. Several past politicos like Karpuri Thakur and Jagjivan Ram are now being exhumed to make posthumous bids for BRs. Not to be left behind, Basu was briefly bandied only to be vetoed again by his comrades. Another historic blunder? And then we have our own K who, we learn, is a front running rathna! But we thought the self-respecting Kalaingar would prefer to be hailed as dravida rathna, courtesy, ideally, Veeramani. The Hindi citation on the medal may be another irritant. But if self-serving rationalism prevails and K does become a rathna of Bharat, Aryans included, the function-fatigued people here can look forward to yet another felicitation from the fawning flattery fraternity that is flourishing in TN.

But to the basic question: has true eminence evaporated? It would seem so if we too look where the politicos are looking. For, their infectious jaundice would render us too blind to the rathnas in our midst. And with the motives, mechanism and means of selection under a cloud, our skeptic eyes would want to rub a rathna even if we were to come across one. But, they exist, doubtless. However, the unseemly process may discourage truly worthy people. For one, many may not be inclined to announce themselves or lobby; the media cannot look beyond celebrities; and even if a good one does surface, he or she runs the risk of being run down by that scandal-mongering media catering to a sensation-hungry mass, deadly deterrents for any self-respecting awardee. And then there is this dim prospect of receiving the award from Prathiba!
Indeed, at a time when treasures have become scarce or are buried deep, the nation seems to have either lost or blunted its shovels too! The political race for rathna is an apt alibi to acknowledge our bankruptcy, abandon the search and abolish the award.

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