The politics have to be removed from the whole sports system then only sportspeople will get recognition. Whatever the glory player’s ear is stolen by the politician. Since we have greedy and worthless politicians governing a sport how will the likes of Dhyan Chand get recognition? Due to this tragic system Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and not Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award. But now, a great decision has been taken and the name of the highest honor in sports will be referred to as Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. Now the players will feel more obliged if they will get Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna than Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. On Friday, the prime minister of India Narendra Modi has announced that the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award was renamed as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.
The Khel Ratna award is a prominent award in sports and it is the highest honor in sports. From the time of its inception, it was reckoned as Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. It is awarded to those personalities who made the country proud on an international level and their contribution to the sports is unmatchable. It is just like Bharat Ratna in sports. It’s one of the best decisions taken by the current government. The legendary Dhyan Chand can’t be honored any better. With due respect to Rajiv Gandhi Ji, he was a politician and not a sportsperson to have his name in the highest sports award of the country. On the other hand, Dhyan Chand is a wizard of hockey. He helped India achieve a hat trick of gold medals in the Olympics (1928, 1932, 1936). It’s not easy to achieve a hat trick of gold medals in the Olympics, definitely not in a team game.
And how they did it, they dominated their opponents and gave absolutely no chance whatsoever. Prime minister of India, Narendra Modi has conferred by a tweet and said “Major Dhyan Chand was among India’s foremost sportspersons who ought to honor and pride for India. Our nation’s highest honor in sports should be named after him”. PM Modi also said that a lot of requests were coming from the citizens of India to change the name of the highest honor in sports. So finally, it has been decided to change Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna Award to Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. Furthermore, Mr. Modi said that he respects the sentiment of the people and the decision to change the name came after a thorough discussion. The change of the name of the Khel Ratna Award came just after the Indian hockey team’s grand victory in Tokyo Olympics.
Indian Hockey Team wins the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics and recreated the history after a long gap of 41 years. It is the first medal won by the Indian hockey team after a gap of 41 years. The last time India won a medal in Olympic the year in the year 1980 was during Moscow Olympics. The mesmerizing win of India’s hockey team has made the whole nation proud and affectionate. Both men, as well as a women’s hockey team, have performed tremendously in the Olympics. The Indian women’s Hockey team missed just one win, the Indian women’s hockey team lost to Britain with a score of 3-4. The team has performed tremendously well after its inception and hopes are high for the next Olympics.
The Khel Ratna award is awarded to those people who have performed tremendously well in their sports and made the country zenith of appreciation on the international podium. Some of the prominent sports personalities who have been awarded the Khel Ratna Award are Virat Kohli, hockey legend Sardar Singh, Sania Mirza, MS Dhoni, Vishwanath Anand, Dhanraj Pillay, and Sachin Tendulkar. The prestigious Khel Ratna award also garners prize money of Rs 25 lakh to the recipient. The change of name of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award receives mixed kinds of feedbacks. A lot of people are supporting the move of the PM of India, while some people are thinking that the move to change the name of the Khel Ratna Award has been taken only to diminish the name of the Gandhi family.
Apart from that, a large section of people are in support of the move by the government of India and said expressed their views via social media. People are saying, It is possible only in India that country’s highest sporting award is named after a politician. There are awards in names of sportspersons in different countries but rarely would you find that in the name of a politician. Awards in other countries are either in the names of legends of sports or in the name of the organization who is giving the award or in the name of the highest posts like president etc. But award in the name of a politician who may not be in power in the future is unthinkable. There is a huge argument going on among the delegates, media, and citizens owing to the change of the name of the Khel Ratna.
One of the prior arguments is if the name of Khel Ratna can be changed then why not the name of the stadium can also be replaced with the name of prominent sports personalities. An avid scholar has said that comparison of two different things by someone devoid of common sense. The Name change of an Award by the Govt is valid as it is a Govt sponsored Award but Stadium names are of different Stature as both are BCCI Sponsored which is a Private Entity and have the power to name the assets under their control. Arun Jaitly was prominent personnel in Delhi BCCI for many years, So the Delhi Branch of BCCI has thought it right to name a Stand in the Stadium in memory of his contributions to BCCI. Same way in Ahmedabad, Gujarat BCCI had not changed the name of the Complex which is in the Name of Sardar Patel, But the refurbished Stadium, earlier known as Motera Stadium To Narender Modi Stadium.
Modi stadium is owned by a private entity “The Gujarat cricket association” which in no way belongs to govt of India, thus it’s their will, and it’s left to their fancy to name the stadium as such. Khel Ratna is an award given by taxpayers’ money to a sportsperson who has excelled in his/her particular sport. As this is a Work of a Private Entity, it is their privilege to name the Stadium as per their wishes, as they see it deem fit for the contribution of Modi’s as a Gujarat CM for his efforts in the betterment of Cricket in Gujarat. Another social media enthusiast has confessed through his post that, The Khel Ratna award is the government of India’s top award for the ace sportsman. Why the hell it should be named after Rajiv Gandhi when he never even played any game except corruption and giving India a Pappu-Ratna called Rahul.
It is also circulating on the internet about the unrecognized behavior of the Indian government regarding Dhyan Chand when he was alive and he didn’t get Bharat Ratna. A lot of people have expressed their agony and said, at the time of Major Dhyan Chand there are no media to highlight the success and one important thing we would like to mention here that the rule for Bharat Ratna is that, “The person who we nominated for Bharat Ratna should be from the current era”. That the Bharat Ratna not given to Major Dhyan Chand in spite he deserve more than Sachin Tendulkar. There is no denying the fact that Major Dhyan Chand was not only the greatest sportsperson of India, but he was the greatest sportsperson of the world. Although, the government hadn’t given him proper recognition when he was alive.
Major Dhyan Chand managed to reach a level that was unheard of for Indian sportsmen, especially in that era. The level of mastery he had with the stick was awe-inspiring. The articles also state that Major Dhyan Chand, even in times of poverty, had refused coaching offers from foreign national teams because he didn’t want them to become better than the Indians and beat them. In India, the person who is good in sports,/is rewarded with an award by the government who could return more than he got from party and government. Otherwise, how much you do for humanity or your country, it doesn’t matter if you don’t do for government or government does not watch any benefit in you in present or future, it will give you no respect. Major Dhyan Chand was born in Allahabad, now officially called Prayagraj.
Born as Dhyan Singh Bais a Hindu Rajput (later called Dhyan Chand as he used to practice in the moonlight as no floodlights were available in those times). His dribbling was so perfect that authorities once broke his stick doubting he has magnet he was offered citizenship of Germany by Hitler and highest army job but he simply refused and said to be Indian till last breath he refused to bow to Hitler in-stadium even and India humiliated Germany by 8–1. He was at the helm of things when India was at its hockey peak. He’s arguably the greatest hockey player ever and probably the best sportsperson from India.
Dhyan died pennilessly and his last words were “When I die today the world will cry but India won’t shed a tear” after his death suddenly government became aware and started making awards on his name even the national sports day is named on him but sadly Bharat Ratna has been ignored till date despite his name was offered the PMO which was under Congress replaced and made Tendulkar holder for Bharat Ratna. It’s indeed a good move to rename the Khel Ratna award on Major Dhyan Chand, the hockey legend. But too late to give recognition to the legend of the sports.
