An open letter to India's Prime Minister regarding the Bharat Ratna award

Major Dhyan Chand

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Yesterday the country conferred upon its favourite son its highest civilian honour. But while Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday was bestowed with the “Bharat Ratna”, several members of the kinship of the Wizard of Hockey, Dhyan Chand, were rallying to get him some deserved recognition.

While Tendulkar’s brilliance on the field has been translated into glorious honours and awards, Dhyan Chand’s astounding skills have remained confined to various apocryphal stories and anecdotes. The Constitution was altered to pave way for Tendulkar to be conferred with the Bhrarat Ratna, but why was India’s greatest sporting legend Major Dhyan Chand completely overlooked?

It can’t be denied that the decision to award Sachin was purely emotional, while the more logical candidate suited to be a Bharat Ratna was denied. The decision was plausibly a political move to appease the sentiments of the cricket crazy nation.

Are Dhyan Chand’s achievements less in stature than those of Sachin? Or has the dust of time been so thick that they have lost their shine?

Till 2011, the Bharat Ratna was conferred “for the highest degrees of national service. This service includes artistic, literary, and scientific achievements, as well as recognition of public service of the highest order.” In December 2011, the government modified the criteria to allow sportspersons to receive the award; since then, the award may be conferred “for performance of highest order in any field of human endeavour.”

Perhaps the only thing Dhyan Chand did wrong is that he played hockey rather than cricket. There was a time hockey was a religion in India, but its place has been taken by cricket today. Dhyan Chand was the first sportsperson who put India on the sporting map; he made the world stand up and take notice of India.

All those who argue in favour of Tendulkar should remember that Dhyan Chand played at a time when cricket was an elite sport and hockey was the sport of the common man. Unlike Sachin, Dhyan Chand didn’t make crores of rupees playing his sport; in fact, it is a matter of great embarrassment for us that he spent the later stages of his life in poverty and obscurity. He played for solely one purpose – to bring laurels to his country. His indomitable spirit of patriotism even left Adolf Hitler dumb-struck.

Is this country too blind to acknowledge any other sports behind the veil of cricket? I have no personal animosity against any particular sport or its icons, but I believe the government has to be held accountable for discrimination against Indian athletes from sports other than cricket.

Awarding the Bharat Ratna to Sachin before Dhyan Chand or Vishwanathan Anand will set a wrong precedent of favouritism towards cricketers. In the future there might be a long list of cricketers being awarded the prestigious honour with other sportspersons being continuously overlooked.

Dhyan Chand is to hockey what Pele is to football. While I don’t question the legitimacy of the award being given to Sachin, I am just baffled by the priority given to popular sporting heroes. Dhyan Chand will always remain India’s first great sporting superstar, and this eternal legend of Indian sports deserves to named as one of India’s jewels.

On behalf of all similarly-minded sports lovers in the country, I request you to award him the Bharat Ratna award posthumously and end this insult to his memory.