The Padma Awards ran into a controversy on Wednesday soon after Communist veteran Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee declined Padma Bhushan, while the choice of senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad for the same recognition raised eyebrows in political circles.
The Narendra Modi government made public the choices for the awards on the eve of Republic Day, which included former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, former Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and Gita Press founder Radheyshyam Khemka, all posthumously for the country’s second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan.
While the Padma Vibhushan awardees were chosen apparently with an eye on Uttar Pradesh elections as at least two Hindutva votaries were in the list, the Padma Bhushan list has 17 people with the choice of Azad and Bhattacharjee creating a flutter in political circles.
The choice of Bhattacharjee, still revered by Bengalis despite CPI(M)’s electoral defeat, was seen as an attempt to woo people in Bengal where the BJP is attempting to make inroads. Choosing Azad, who has risen in rebellion against party leadership, is also seen as a political move.
Within hours after the announcement of awards, Bhattacharjee issued a statement, “I don't know anything about Padma Bhushan Award, nobody told me anything about this. If I have been awarded Padma Bhushan then I am rejecting it.”
There was no official response from the government on Bhattacharjee’s statement but PTI reported quoting sources that a top MHA official made a call at ailing Bhattacharjee's house, his wife received the call and was informed of Padma Bhushan award to him.
Congress Rajya Sabha Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh tweeted taking a dig at his party colleague, “Right thing to do. He (Bhattacharjee) wants to be Azad (independent) not Ghulam (slave).”
Prabha Atre (90), who hails from Maharashtra and a vocalist from the Kirana gharana, is the fourth winner of Padma Vibhushan. The Padma Bhushan list also included Covid-19 vaccine makers Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech that manufactured Covaxin and Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India that produced Covishield.
Honouring Indian techie giants, Satya Narayana Nadella of Microsoft and Sundararajan Pichai of Google are also chosen for the Padma Bhushan award. Tata Sons Chairperson N Chandrashekhar, former Comptroller and Auditor General Rajiv Mehrishi, Bengali actor Victor Banerjee, late Punjabi folk singer Gurmeet Bawa, late Indian-Mexican scientist Sanjay Rajaram who found 480 wheat varieties, paralympic gold winner Devendra Jhajharia and Oriya writer Pratibha Ray are among the Padma Bhushan winners.
There are 107 Padma Shri award winners, which included Olympic gold winner Neeraj Chopra, scientist Sosamma Iype who took measures to save the indigienous Vechur cows of Kerala, and dancing sisters Kamalini Asthana and Nalini Asthana. Editor in Chief of Chardhikala, a Punjabi publication, Jagjit Singh Dardi is also among the recipients of Padma Shri.
Thirty-four of the awardees are women, while 10 are from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 posthumous awardees. Interestingly, the list of 128 did not have any big names from the Bollywood or world of cricket.
Thirteen people from poll-bound Uttar Pradesh were chosen for Padma awards, while four each from Punjab and Uttarakhand, three from Manipur and two from Goa were also chosen. Five of the Padma Shri awardees are from Karnataka.
Home Minister Amit Shah chose to refer to the choice of Kalyan Singh and Gen Rawat in his tweets, soon after the awards were announced. “Kalyan Singh-ji devoted his entire life in the interest of the country. While being the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, he gave a fear free and public welfare government to the people. Conferring him with Padma Vibhushan by Narendra Modi-ji today is a true tribute to the great life of Babuji dedicated to the nation,” he tweeted.
Singh was Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister when Babri Masjid was demolished in Ayodhya, and Khemka, who also hailed from the poll-bound state, had founded the publishing house that sells Hindu religious texts. Former CDS Rawat, who died in a chopper crash last month, was also chosen for the second highest civilian award.
Below is the full list of recipients:
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