The Bharat Ratna is India's highest civilian award. I think it is a mistake to give it to cricketers and Bollywood people merely for their fame and talent.
Doing so reduces the value of the award and there is also the potential that it is misused. I would say something similar has happened also in the case of those cricketers and Bollywood people nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
Let me take two examples, Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar. Neither of them deserves the Bharat Ratna and both have misused their fame.
Sachin is in the news these days for taking his former business partner to the defence minister to seek his intervention. The issue was some commercial construction being carried out near a defence area.
When news was leaked of this meeting, Sachin released a statement saying he had no personal business interest in the matter. Perhaps not. But is it the job of Bharat Ratnas to peddle business interests before ministers?
To put this in perspective, we should know that Sachin spent three years in the Rajya Sabha before asking his first question. And when I say 'spent three years in the Rajya Sabha' I mean mostly outside it.
Lata and Sachin didn't deserve the Bharat Ratna - Rediff.com India News
Doing so reduces the value of the award and there is also the potential that it is misused. I would say something similar has happened also in the case of those cricketers and Bollywood people nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
Let me take two examples, Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar. Neither of them deserves the Bharat Ratna and both have misused their fame.
Sachin is in the news these days for taking his former business partner to the defence minister to seek his intervention. The issue was some commercial construction being carried out near a defence area.
When news was leaked of this meeting, Sachin released a statement saying he had no personal business interest in the matter. Perhaps not. But is it the job of Bharat Ratnas to peddle business interests before ministers?
To put this in perspective, we should know that Sachin spent three years in the Rajya Sabha before asking his first question. And when I say 'spent three years in the Rajya Sabha' I mean mostly outside it.
Lata and Sachin didn't deserve the Bharat Ratna - Rediff.com India News
