Award-shaward

So this year the Padma* awards went to some of those who wagged their tails most vigorously. This was expected and this has been the norm, as we discussed earlier. Yet the media took the opportunity to take pot shots at Advani. A Tehelka article was particularly vicious in tone. It went so far as suggesting that by proposing the Bharat Ratna for Vajpayeeji, Mr. Advani was setting a bad precedence. This is an astonishing spin. If anyone set the trend of giving awards to sycophants, it was Congress, which had a firm lock on Indian politics for decades.

Come to think of it, Barkha Dutt's Padma Shri was justified because of her Kargill war coverage. You have to give her the gender advantage too. Rajeep Sardesai on the other hand is merely one among many leading media chiefs. He is yet to differentiate himself as a journalist. Arguably he has shown great managerial skills and entrepreneurial acumen in bringing CNN-IBN to the forefront of the Indian media scene.

So, the top national award was not conferred on anyone this year. Sonia Gandhi could not be given the Bharat Ratna simply because it would provide fodder for BJP, although many Congress politicians lobbied for it. Vajpayeeji had practically no chance of getting the award for obvious reasons. The only way he could get it was through a personal grand gesture of the PM. Unfortunately it is not easy being a Congress politician, one has to straddle political advantages with a show of obeisance for the dynasty.

Perhaps they thought that no award was better than a controversial one. Unfortunately at least in this case that logic will not work. Mayawati is already eating away into a Congress vote bank. By not giving the award to Kanshi Ram or Babu Jagjivan Ram, Congress handed it on a platter to Mayawati. Now it is up to her to exploit it.