etaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) founder and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malviya and former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee may be conferred with the nation's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna. In what is being seen as a political master stroke, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government at the Centre has virtually taken a decision at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bestow the prestigious award to these iconic leaders. The awards could be announced as early as on the eve of the Independence Day.

Sources said that the Ministry of Home Affairs had earlier this week placed an order for five Bharat Ratna medallions with the Reserve Bank of India mint, triggering off speculation about the awards being announced shortly. The order for five medallions also implies that there will be more than one Bharat Ratna winner this time, although it is not necessary that five eminent personalities may be honoured.

However, Modi wants to send an early message that luminaries ignored by the previous Congress governments were nevertheless going to be given their due recognition by his regime. While the then government had announced the Bharat Ratna for Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in 1992, it was never conferred, as a huge controversy broke out as many of his well wishers, admirers and family members objected to the award being conferred on him posthumously. A public interest litigation also stated that giving an award to a person whose stature was greater than that of the honour was most ridiculous. The Supreme Court finally intervened and cancelled the press release announcing the award in 1997, as it ruled that the Sanad (certificate) had not been given and there had been no gazette notification regarding the Bharat Ratna to Bose. Therefore, the announcement stood nullified. The Apex Court declined to address the posthumous issue.

It is not clear how the Modi government will go about the issue as many would still object to the posthumous mention in the announcement. But once the government successfully gives Bharat Ratna to Netaji, amongst the most unsung heroes of the freedom movement, though its leading figure, it will certainly establish a very strong foothold for the BJP in West Bengal in particular.

The idea to consider the BSP founder, the late Kanshi Ram for the coveted award is both to honour him as also to send a very strong message to the Dalit constituency that the BJP is very keen to work for their uplift. Simultaneously, the announcement would neutralise the party's current supremo and Kanshi Ram's protégé Mayawati, who is a force to reckon with in many states, especially Uttar Pradesh. The gesture will be seen positively by Dalits even in the poll bound states of Haryana and Maharashtra.

Madan Mohan Malviya, the founder of the Banaras Hindu University as also its vice chancellor had followers cutting across party lines for his immense contribution. He was associated with the Hindu Mahasabha and was also the president of the Congress. In addition, he founded the Leader newspaper and was for many years the chairman of the Hindustan Times. A factor that could have played on Modi's mind to include him on the list of probable awardees is that the educationist, scholar and freedom fighter had a strong connection with Varanasi which is the Prime Minister's Lok Sabha constituency.

The demand for a Bharat Ratna for Atal Behari Vajpayee has been there even when the NDA was in power during his tenure as Prime Minister. The first Prime Minister from a non Congress background, Vajpayee has won hearts across communities and is regarded very highly by even his opponents. The ailing former Prime Minister, an admirer of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, will also be the first leader from the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and BJP background to get the award. In January 2008, his long time friend and deputy, Lal Krishna Advani had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to bestow the honour on Vajpayee but the UPA government did nothing. Modi wants to ensure that Vajpayee should be awarded the Bharat Ratna during his lifetime as he has been very unwell.

Sections of the BJP have also been demanding the Bharat Ratna for Bhai Hanuman Poddar, the founder of Gita Press whose contribution in promoting Hindu culture has been enormous. Seemandhra Chief Minister and TDP boss N. Chandrababu Naidu has made a strong plea for the highest honour for his party's founder N.T. Rama Rao. Music lovers have equally made a strong case for the award to be conferred on the late playback singer Mohammad Rafi, while sports enthusiasts want legends like Dhayan Chand and Milkha Singh to be felicitated.

The Bharat Ratna was conferred last year on cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist C.N.R. Rao. Till date, there have been 43 recipients of the award, 11 of them posthumously. C. Rajagopalachari was the first awardee and the long list includes former Presidents S. Radhakrishnan, Rajendra Prasad, Zakir Hussain, V.V. Giri and Abdul Kalam and former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Morarji Desai, Gulzari Lal Nanda, besides eminent Indians like Jaya Prakash Narayan, K. Kamaraj, Sardar Vallabbhai Patel, Gobind Ballabh Pant, M.S. Subhalakshmi, Lata Mangeshkar, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Bismillah Khan.

Mother Teresa became the first naturalised Indian to be conferred the Bharat Ratna, although two non Indians, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) and Nelson Mandela (1990) have been bestowed the honour.