Mirza Ghalib for India’s Bharat Ratna award

Letter December 27, 2014
Ghalib is modern, not ancient or medieval, and took literature to the highest pinnacle

NEW DELHI: The Indian media covered the award of Bharat Ratna to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Many people have applauded it. In my opinion, neither of them deserved the award. What was so great about Vajpayee? And what was so great about Malaviya? It is said that he set up the Benaras Hindu University. But how can a university be Hindu or Muslim? A university is something universal. In fact, setting up the Aligarh Muslim University and the Benaras Hindu University was part of the British policy of divide and rule.

The persons who should be awarded the Bharat Ratna are: 1) Mirza Ghalib. When I first spoke of this some people said: why not award Gautam Buddha and Ashoka? My answer is: Ghalib is modern, not ancient or medieval, and took literature to the highest pinnacle. Also, posthumous awards have frequently been given, e.g. to Dr Ambedkar and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

2) Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis, for his outstanding sacrifice to help the Chinese when they were fighting the Japanese invaders. This brought laurels to India, showing that we are not a people concerned only about ourselves, but also think of the welfare of other nations. 3) Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyaya, for his powerful attack against the caste system and women’s oppression in his writings. 4) Subramania Bharti, for his nationalism and powerful support for women’s emancipation in his poetry. 5) P Sainath, for his courageous journalism, exposing the truth of the social and economic realities in India, e.g., farmer suicides.

But who cares for my opinion?

Justice (retd) Markandey Katju

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2014.

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