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Advani recommends Bharat Ratna for Vajpayee, opens Pandora’s box |
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B. I. Saini
The BJP’s prime ministerial canditate, L.K. Advani, by writing a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, recommending award of the country’s highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna, to former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, has not only exposed the differences and power struggle within the BJP, but also opened a Pandora’s box, leading to a plethora of demands for giving the honour to politicians of all hues. The controversy has also the potential of re-igniting the debate on the very rele¬vance of such honours in a democratic country.
The timing of Advani’s letter to the Prime Minister is significant. It comes within weeks of Advani getting the tag of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, which he had been unable to achieve earlier, despite his repeated assertions in the past that the leader of the opposition is naturally the Prime Minister in waiting. Other senior leaders of the party such as Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi had failed to agree with his view.
Atal Behari Vajpayee himself, despite his poor health, had shown no inclination to abandon his role as the mast-head of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. Advani was annointed by his party as its prime ministerial hopeful only when prospects arose of early elections because of differences between the Congress and the Left parties over the nuclear deal with the United States, which could lead to fall of the Manmohan Singh government and dissolution of the Lok Sabha. The party thought that it would need a forceful personality to lead it through the battle at the
hustings, which was looming large on the horizon at one time. Significantly, observers saw Vajpayee as only reluctantly agree¬ing to the ‘promotion’ of Advani.
Advani’s letter recommending Vajpayee’s name for Bharat Ratna has got a muted response in the BJP, with most leaders unwilling to comment on why the letter was made public. There is support in some quarters for the view that Advani’s action is aimed at ensuring that Vajpayee remins in the background from now onwards. They term the letter as virtually Vajpayee’s political obituary.
Whether or not Advani succeeds in putting a stop to Vaj¬payee’s political career, he has certainly succeeded in giving rise to demads from across the political spectrum for awarding Bharat Ratna to their leaders, dead or alive. Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has demanded that her political mentor and BSP’s founder Kanshi Ram should be honoured with the award. There is a demand that Jyoti Basu should get the Bharat Ratna, though the veteran leader and his party, the CPI(M) have said that they do not favour such awards.
Demands have also come from other quarters for awarding the Bharat Ratna to personalities such as Akali leader and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, INLD founder Devi Lal, Telugu Desam founder N. T. Ramarao and former CPI(M) chief Harkishen Singh Surjeet. Another leader, whose name is being talked about is DMK chief and Tamil nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
Over the years, the Padma awards have to an extent lost their credibility because of misuse of the awards by some of the persons, who received them. Many awardees and their admirers use them as titles, though the rules expressly provide that the Padma awards should not used as such, as this would amount to reviving feudalism, for which there is no place in a democracy like India. A few years ago, veteran Communist leader from Punjab, Satpal Dang returned his Padma award to the President as he found that other awardees were grossing misusing the honour.
The latest controversy has the potential of further devalu¬ing the Padma awards, unless the Government puts in place a transparent system of selection and stops using them as a tool of political patronage.
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