A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court here challenging Bharat Ratna award to master blaster cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.
Senior IPS officer Amitabh Thakur and social activist Dr Nutan Thakur filed a PIL claiming that Bharat Ratna is the highest award of this country and must be given after utmost scrutiny.
As per the petitioners, there are many other truly world class sportsmen like Vishwanathan Anand, Milkha Singh and Geet Sethi who gave better results in much more competitive sports than Cricket.
Secondly, they alleged that cricket is now less of a sport and more a ‘Tamasha’ that is taking this Nation backwards, so that Bharat Ratna to a cricketer is bound to give message of inaction and laxity.
Amitabh and Nutan have also challenged the current method of awarding Bharat Ratna where the Prime Minister solely recommends names, as being completely against the concept of transparency and inclusiveness. They have prayed for a larger Committee for these awards which shall bestow Bharat Ratna to all truly Great Indians including Ashoka, Akbar, Kalidas, Kabir, Kamban among other so as to become synonymous with its name.
