Awarding Sachin Tendulkar with the Bharat Ratna was a last minute decision; Dhyan Chand was the first choice

Indian Cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar receiving the Bharat Ratna from President Pranab Mukherjee

The previous Indian government (UPA) replaced Indian Hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand’s name at the very last minute in favour of Cricketing Icon Sachin Tendulkar for the Bharat Ratna, reveals Headlines Today.

RTI Reveals Legend Dhyanchand was selected for Bharat Ratna, but at last moment @sachin_rt was Given Bharat Ratna.. pic.twitter.com/BSC3mVR0mZ

— #GauravPradhan (@drgpradhan) May 21, 2014

They have gained access to a mail trail from the Prime Minister’s Office which has all the details regarding the treatment meted out to the Hockey legend in favour of Tendulkar. On the 16 of July in 2013, the Hockey legend’s name was recommended by the then Sports Minister Jitendra Singh to the then Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh.

Since the calls grew louder for Sportspersons to be considered for India’s highest Civilian honour, in 2011, an amendment to the law was finally made and because of this, the Hockey great’s name was considered by many as the favourite to win the award until August 2013.

But it looks like things began to change when Sachin announced that he was finally retiring from the sport. Eminent scientist CNR Rao was approved by the PM on October 24 and on the 14th of November, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports were asked to send the bio-data of Sachin to the PMO, and the ministry responded with the same immediately.

It was the final day of his cricketing career, and the UPA government got the approval for both Tendulkar and Rao on the same day from the Election Commission. Dhyan Chand’s son Ashok Chand expressed his disappointment and called it a political game. "It is a matter of great disappointment for crores of Indians that Dhyan Chand's name was excluded and Sachin Tendulkar's name was brought forward. It was a political game played against Major Dhyan Chand", he said.

Reacting to the news, the BCCI vice-president and congress MP Rajiv Shukla took a neutral stand on this by claiming that no comparison should be made between these two legends.

Sachin recently made an appearance in the Commonwealth games opening ceremony, and had also talked about the knock that changed his career in International Cricket.