One of the casualties of competitive populism in our country, especially when the politicians indulge in it, is our national pride, honour and self-respect. We are witnessing right now one such competitive populism, about who should be awarded the Bharat Ratna. Considered the highest civilian honour the Indian Government can confer on anyone, Indian or foreigner, the recipient is bound to feel special. Unlike the other lesser honours like Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Shri, which are handed out by the dozens every year, the Bharat Ratna is not something which is casually dished out, and that is why it has retained its lustre and prestige.

Ever since it was instituted in 1954, which is 54 years ago, only 40 persons from various fields, mostly of high eminence, but some with doubtful credentials to lay claim to the honour, have been honoured with it. And the most important person, who is missing in this list, is Mahatma Gandhi! By hindsight, it seems befitting, as he obviously stands much above even the Bharat Ratnas.

If one goes through the list, some names there gives one a feeling whether they really deserved to be there, and no wonder it had resulted in controversies when they were awarded. When V.V.Giri, K.Kamaraj, M.G.Ramachandran and Rajiv Gandhi, were the controversial recipients, it was felt at that time, that they were being awarded with political motives rather than for their stellar credentials, though of course all of them did make their contributions to the nation is some way. But the lingering feeling remains whether they did enough to deserve the honour. Even someone like Bhagwan Das or Purushotham Das Tandon also was not really very popular choices, as there was an element of politics in it.

The first recipients of the award when it was instituted in 1954, Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who was the Vice President at that time, Dr.C.Rajagopalachari and Sir C.V.Raman, were all such eminent personalities with such immense contributions that no one had a iota of doubt. Some of the latter recipients like Sir M.Visweswaraya, Mother Teresa, Vinobha Bhave, J.R.D.Tata, Satyajit Ray, M.S.Subbalakshmi, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Amartya Sen, Lata Mangeshkar and Ustab Bismillah Khan, don't attract any grudge or argument.

The entire list can be viewed on this site
http://india.gov.in/myindia/bharatratna_awards_list1.php

Problems have always cropped when it comes to politicians being honoured with this most prestigious award. While generally we would feel comfortable with the pre-independence politicians, be it Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad or their contemporaries, and no one has raised any questions about them being honoured, it was when M.G.Ramachandran was awarded in 1988, there were questions raised about the intentions. Indira Gandhi virtually awarded herself, in 1971, and her son, Rajiv Gandhi one felt got it too soon, or maybe did not even deserve it. But both were awarded in rather emotional circumstances. In 1971, Indira Gandhi had won the war with Pakistan and helped create Bangla Desh and Rajiv was given posthumously soon after his tragic death. Rajiv Gandhi's was more striking, as along with him, Sardar Patel, who had died almost 40 years before that, was awarded posthumously.