The list of demands for Bharat Ratna awards is getting longer. After BJP leader L K Advani demanded one for his long-time colleague and former prime minister A B Vajpayee, and CPM made a flip-flop on Communist veteran Jyoti Basu, several parties have demanded the highest civil award for their own leaders.

BSP’s stormy petrel Mayawati has sought the award for her mentor Kanshi Ram. The demand grew shriller in some parts of the country on Monday. With Mayawati demanding it for the BSP founder, SP obviously does not want to lag behind - it demanded the award for party president Mulayam Singh Yadav. One award is a must for former deputy prime minister Babu Jagjivan Ram, his daughter and Union minister Meira Kumar has said. Another Bihari, former chief minister Karpuri Thakur should be given one, Lalu Prasad’s RJD has demanded. Not lagging behind it was Ajit Singh, for his father and former prime minister Charan Singh.

The demands from various other sections and states can only be expected now: Karnataka may demand for cine icon Dr Raj Kumar, software industry for N R Narayana Murthy and why not, JD(S) may seek one for former prime minister H D Deve Gowda. A cultural organisation has demanded one for celebrated Hindustani musician Gangubai Hangal. DMK, it can be safely presumed, may make its demand seeking one for M Karunanidhi. Not to be forgotten, his late rival and AIADMK leader MGR was awarded Bharat Ratna way back in 1988.

It may be no surprise if the industry demands one for Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani and Ratan Tata, who dreamt the current rage Nano, the people’s car.

Interestingly, while the highest civilian honour has been bestowed on 40 eminent men and women so far, it has not been given to any for the last seven years. The last to receive the award was shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan in 2001. Established in 1954, the first Ratna was given to philosopher and second president S Radhakrishnan. Strangely enough, there is a strong bias towards selecting politicians as Ratna awardees with a majority of the 40 awards going in their favour. No sportsperson or author figure in the list so far. Some say cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Metro Man E Sreedharan deserve the award.

Mahatma Gandhi was never given the award, perhaps because posthumous awards were not given earlier. So far, 10 posthumous awards have been given, including the award to Subhas Chandra Bose in 1992, which was later withdrawn due to a legal technicality, the only case of an award being withdrawn. It was withdrawn in response to a Supreme Court directive following a PIL against the “posthumous” nature of the award. The Award Committee could not give conclusive evidence of Bose’s death and thus it invalidated the “posthumous” award.
 The actual award is designed in the shape of a peepal leaf and carries the Hindi-written words “Bharat Ratna” on the front. The reverse side of the medal carries the state emblem and motto.