What was so great about Vajpayee and Malaviya, both don't deserve Bharat Ratna: Justice Katju

news

The News Minute | December 25, 2014 | 10.30 am IST

The government’s decision to award Bharat Ratna to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and freedom fighter and educationist Madan Mohan Malaviya reignited the debate of politicization of the award and also of awarding the highest civilian award posthumously.



Though there were very few who had qualms about Vajpayee being awarded, many had a problem with the award being given to Malaviya. To add to this debate, former judge of the Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju has questioned the greatness about the two individuals. Neither deserve the honour is what he feels.

“In my opinion neither of them deserved the award,” he said through his Facebook post on Thursday. “What was there so great about Vajpayee ? And what was there in Malviya ? It is said that he set up the Benaras Hindu University. But how can a University be Hindu or Muslim ? A University is something universal,” Justice Katju wrote.

The persons whom, according to him, deserved the honour were Mirza Ghalib, Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis, Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyaya, Subramania Bharti and P. Sainath.

Perhaps feeling ignored, in the end he writes, “But who cares for my opinion.”

To those who questioned his opinion, Justice Katju had a ready-made answer. "A day in a cooler may do you good," the angered retired judge replied.