Bharat Apna?

The public jostling is in full swing. Till news last came in, late BSP founder Kanshi Ram, late Congress dalit leader Jagjivan Ram, CPM veteran Jyoti Basu, 19th century social reformer Jyotiba Phule and late legendary singer Mohammad Rafi were said to have joined the BJP8217;s Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the list of contenders for the nation8217;s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna. With the exception of Rafi 8212; whose candidature is perhaps the most iffy 8212; all those in the race for the ratna can be deemed political mascots and heavyweights. So when the Congress government decides on the most deserving of them all, which political imperative will be uppermost on its mind? The need to accommodate the demand of the leader of Opposition which is itself speculated to have something to do with the current balance of power within the BJP? The compulsion to assuage Mayawati to arrest the deteriorating relationship between Congress and BSP? Urgency to proffer another olive branch to the Left?

The system of state awards, honours and privileges has always seemed odd in modern India. That lack of fit is growing. An award like the Bharat Ratna may have been instituted as part of the nation-building project 8212; a 8220;recognition of public service of the highest order8221; 8212; but it soon lost its idealism and lustre and became an adjunct of a claustrophobic system of state patronage more at home in the colonial era. In coalition times, with power-sharing arrangements becoming the norm at the Centre, the competition for awards has become more contentious, but not more open or transparent. Today, India8217;s excellence is being realised and fulfilled in areas that increasingly lie outside arenas of the state. New India is announcing its presence and ambition in private enterprise, in the arts, on the cricket field, in the film industry, and in so many other spaces that do not depend on either the support of or validation by the state.

The petitioning and lobbying for the Bharat Ratna is a sad spectacle indeed. It undermines both the dignity of the eminent personalities in the fray and the spirit of a nation that is reimagining itself in unprecedented ways.