Bharat Ratna for Vajpayee?
It's awards time! And the clever politician that he is, Advani has pitched in for the Bharat Ratna to be given to Atalji. It's a win win situation for Advani. If Vajpayee gets the award, he can use it in his next election campaign. If Vajpayee doesn't get that award, that would be better campaign material. For the last seven years, there has been no Bharat Ratna award. The Government simply cannot afford to create a controversy by giving the award. There is no doubt that Vajpayee is the tallest Indian and richly deserves the award and is the most eligible candidate but then he has to compete with Charan singh, NT Rama Rao and Kanshi Ram, who have powerful supporters. And a stronger contender seems to be Sachin Tendulkar. But why is nobody talking about Jyoti Basu and Manmohan singh who equally well deserve the award which Mahatma Gandhi did not get and which MG Ramachandran got?
And if the world's richest man is in India, is he not our Ratna?
The Revenue Boards have an equally tough time in deciding their Presidential awards, which are to be announced soon.