Harried Dilip Kumar turns to PM for advice

Ironically, Kumar accepted the award only after getting a clearance from Vajpayee since protocol demanded it. In fact, it was Vajpayee8217;s first day in office that I called and he even asked me to take his message of goodwill greetings to Pakistan, recalled Kumar. 8220;These people are not just asking me to return the award; it8217;s a threat. So I decided to approach Vajpayee,8221; he said.

Kumar and his palatial bungalow in the upmarket Bandra suburb became a target of Shiv Sena ire for the second time in a year when activists of the student wing, Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, demonstrated on Tuesday demanding that he return the award in the wake of the Kargil conflict. They kicked around and destroyed a replica of the award before the police intervened to prevent the protest taking an ugly turn.

The BVS activists later handed a memorandum to Kumar citing Kapil Dev8217;s initiative to call off the forthcoming Indo-Pak cricket series. Last year, the Sena had targeted him with their outrageous protest in underwear for his stand on the film Fire. The Sainiks can be considered the usual suspects8217; against Kumar, but this time round a bevy of protestors has joined the group.

Both the Congress as well as the Nationalist Congress Party urged the thespian to return the award to show his protest over Pakistan8217;s actions in Kargil. Today, the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra too joined the clamour. Unaware that he had sought Vajpayee8217;s advice, BJP8217;s Gopinath Munde, deputy chief minister and home minister, said, 8220;Kumar should decide whether or not to return the award so that he can join the national condemnation of Pakistani intrusion in Kargil and the recent atrocities against Indian embassy staff in Islamabad.8221; Raj Purohit, a BJP minister, went one step further and declared that Kumar 8220;should either return the award to quit to go to Pakistan8221;.

Stung that his acceptance of the award was being equated with his loyalty to India, Kumar countered, 8220;This is not a circus. Do they want to rob me of my personal dignity to prove my patriotism?8221;

Interestingly, he has received support from the New Delhi-based Federation of Legislators of India that includes the likes of B P Singh, former governor of Goa, and several Members of Parliament. In a signed statement, they deplored the Sena demonstration and said that Kumar8217;s patriotism and loyalty could not be questioned since he is among the few who had taken India8217;s tri-colour beyond her frontiers.

Typically, emerging non-political opinion dismisses this as yet another convenient political controversy. Dr Rafiq Zakaria, Islamic scholar and author of Price of Partition, among other books, says: 8220;The basic thing is that Kashmir is non-negotiable. Awards are given and taken, accepted and returned. How does it matter? What really matters is the person8217;s approach.8221; Not many are willing to be as generous to Kumar.

Meanwhile, the Desai family has just begun to come under some pressure to return the same award conferred on the late Morarji Desai years ago, but the family has not yet responded. However, the Sena brigade as also the other political parties have refrained from including Desai in their fierce protest against Kumar. Which begs the question: is Kumar8217;s patriotism under special scrutiny for who he is?