JOIN USRenowned Kannada novelist Santeshivara Lingannaiah Bhyrappa, controversial former NCERT chairperson J S Rajput, former central election commissioner N Gopalaswami, matinee idol Dilip Kumar and two spiritual leaders Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Mata Amritanandamayi’s names are doing the rounds for the Padma awards.
The government has shortlisted certain names for the awards bestowed in three categories of Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri since they have to be announced on Republic Day.
Some of the names under consideration for the civilian awards have shades of saffron.
For instance, J S Rajput had courted controversy during his stint as NCERT chairperson during Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime for trying to give a right tilt to education syllabus.
Acclaimed writer Bhyrappa is believed to have been in the running for the award for quite sometime now but could not make it for his Hindutva leanings.
And, spiritual leaders Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Mata Amritanandamayi have been close to Modi apart from other senior BJP leaders, including L K Advani. Shankar’s Art of Living officials were also hopeful of their spiritual leader getting the honour this time.
A member of the Art of Living said that Modi is close to Shankar and had adopted some of the welfare schemes espoused by them.
He said the “Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna” the prime minister launched was a 15-year-old concept borrowed from the Art of Living which has been running model villages. Similarly, Modi had attended Mata Amritanandamayi’s 60th birthday celebration at Amritapuri in Kerala in September 2013.
The government may consider one of the greatest Bollywood actors, Dilip Kumar, who was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1991, for Padma Vibhushan which is a notch up in the Padma awards category.
Interestingly, Dilip Kumar along with legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan were considered for the Padma Vibhushan awards but were not shortlisted by a search committee in 2012.
DH News Service