The Bharat Ratna is the country’s highest civilian award. Therefore, it cannot be taken lightly. The present political dispensation has decided to announce two Bharat Ratna awardees as 2014 draws to a close. With the choice of one recipient, there can be no dispute. Atal Bihari Vajpayee served with distinction as the prime minister of India. Even those who disagree with Mr Vajpayee’s ideology will concede that as prime minister he did not act according to the demands of his ideological predilections. He tried to fashion himself as the prime minister of the entire country. This did not win him very many friends in Nagpur, the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. But this did not prevent Mr Vajpayee from pursuing what he considered to be his raj dharma. He deserves to be hailed as a “jewel of India’’. With the choice of the second recipient, the government has caught a Tartar. This is not because of the political and ideological orientation of Madan Mohan Malaviya. It is to do with the fact that the award is being given posthumously. Malaviya is not around to receive the honour that is being bestowed on him. The question that is being asked with every justification is why give it to him when he is long dead. The question has nothing to do with respect or the lack of it but it relates to a point of principle.

If the Bharat Ratna is to be awarded posthumously, then there are two questions that need to be answered. One, how far in time should the award be pushed back to? Second, why begin the posthumous list with Malaviya? To take the second question first. Surely, in the Indian pantheon, there are people who are as, if not more, eminent as Malaviya? To name just three from a long list: Rabindranath Tagore, Vivekananda and Satyendranath Bose. All three in their respective fields — literature, religion and science — have made outstanding contributions that are valued much more highly than those made by Malaviya. The choice of the latter over and above individuals of greater eminence indicates that there was a political agenda behind the choice. This only serves to demean the Bharat Ratna. The first question is equally important. If the award is to be pushed back indefinitely and bestowed posthumously, it could be given to someone like Yajnavalka or Gautam Buddha. This would make the Bharat Ratna meaningless. The government should pick its jewels with greater care and less prejudice.