Surendra Kishore
Lord Mountbatten first expressed the desire to introduce honours, medals and titles after independence, which was implemented by the Government of India. The conferment of titles is prohibited in the constitution but it was introduced due to the wish of Lord Mountbatten. Mountbatten cited the example of the Soviet Union, where medals and titles are the norm, according to the details recorded in the memoirs of M.O. Mathai, the personal secretary of the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
In 1974, the Soviet Union defeated Indian communist leader S. a. Dange was awarded the Order of Lenin. Mathai writes that “But Mountbatten did not give examples of countries like America and France where such honors are not given.” Remember that there have always been controversies over the selection of names for these honors which were started in India in 1954. There are no controversies regarding Padma awards during the tenure of Narendra Modi government. But how long this will remain undisputed, it cannot be said.
Remember that the name of Dr. Rajendra Prasad was not in the first list of celebrities to whom Bharat Ratna was started in this country. Yes, the Vice President Dr. Radhakrishnan has already been given the Bharat Ratna. Later to Dr Rajendra Prasad. These awards and honors are considered anti-constitutional.
In 1977, the Morarji Desai government abolished the provision of these medals and honors.
But, in 1980, the Indira Gandhi government started it again. There are always controversies regarding Bharat Ratna and Padma awards. It is alleged that politics is often the basis of names selected for honors. Famous writer Khushwant Singh wrote in the year 2008 that “I have not understood till date what is the attention given to this selection held every year.”
In the same year, Congress leader Rajiv Shukla wrote that “some people have already won the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards by lobbying in Delhi.” Now how many people know better than Khushwant Singh and Rajiv Shukla about the internal activities of the then Central Governments. The framers of the constitution had abolished the titles through Article 18. For the first time after independence, in 1954, three personalities were awarded the Bharat Ratna simultaneously. They were Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Dr. Chandrashekhar Benkataraman. Whereas people like Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and hockey magician Dhyan Chand were not remembered.
Sardar Patel was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1991, MG Ramachandran in 1988 and Jayaprakash Narayan in 1998. After seeing this example, it seems that what can be more politics than this title? Acharya J.B. Kripalani was strictly against the titles. He had brought a private bill in the Lok Sabha in 1970 against titles like Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Shri. But his bill could not be passed.
During the discussion on this bill, when Kripalani felt that his bill would fall, the eloquent Kriplani, pointing towards the members of Indira Congress, said that you people are the biggest hypocrite. You call yourself a socialist but do many things against socialism. Your work is also like this. Acharya Kriplani was the President of Congress in 1947. But later he left the Congress. Gandhian Kripalani sometimes used to listen to Gandhiji also.
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Kripalani, who had been a member of the Constituent Assembly, did not like to create a special class with titles in independent India also. Before introducing the bill, he had asked the ruling Congress members whether they wanted to issue a whip to vote on the bill. If they want so, they will not introduce this bill. But at that time the ruling Congress members did not give any indication of the whip. Even several MPs from the ruling party supported Kriplani’s bill in the House. But, at the time of voting on the bill, those members voted against the bill. Because shortly before the end of the debate, the ruling MPs changed their strategy.
The members of the opposition even talked about the absurdity of the titles conferred by the government and stressed the need to abolish it. Even though J.B. Kriplani’s bill fell, during its discussion many members seriously raised the question whether the government was not creating a specific class of citizens through these titles? A few days before that, the Parliament had passed a bill to abolish the privy purse given to the kings and emperors.
During the discussion on that bill, several MPs had said that the money being given to the former kings was not important. Rather, it is their titles that make them different and distinct from the general public. J.B. Kriplani was aware that by an administrative order, the Central Government had decided to confer Bharat Ratna and other types of titles in 1954. This issue was never brought up in the cabinet as stalwarts like Sardar Patel and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad were against these titles.
(The author is a political expert and senior journalist)
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