Times of India says Bharat Ratna medallions ordered by NDA, Times Now debates, Economic Times debunks story

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The News Minute | August 16, 2014 | 8.18 am IST

On 8 August, Times of India (TOI) published a report titled, ‘Govt orders 5 Bharat Ratna medallions from RBI mint’. The report said that the ‘ministry of home affairs requisitioned the medallions from the RBI earlier this week’ and this has ‘escalated speculation that the highest civilian honour may be awarded to more than one person around or after this Independence Day. ‘

For two days viewers listened to who exactly will get the Bharat Ratna this year – the government has ordered five, but a maximum of three can be awarded in a year and there were, putting together the various estimates, around eight names on the list.

Times Now, the TV channel owned by the Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL), (that also owns TOI) steered these debates, with numerous shows that had Subhash Chandra Bose’s kin saying they reject the Bharat Ratna that was to be awarded by the government.

Then some days of silence, and one more news report appeared, blowing all that speculation to bits. The new government did not order those five medallions after all, it was the UPA it seems.

Strangely, this report has been published by The Economic Times, also from the BCCL stable.

The report titled, ‘New Bharat Ratna medallions ordered by UPA government, not Narendra Modi government’, on August 15, quotes a source in the Ministry of Home Affairs as saying that it was the UPA government which asked the Reserve Bank of India to make five medallions. And the order was based on a request from the Rashtrapathi Bhavan, which sought a medallion for display in its new museum. And so, the UPA government ordered five medallions.

It is likely that the a report published by The Times of India started this speculation on who will get the award this year. Since the National Democratic Alliance government’s term has just started, all eyes were on the ruling coalition. The Times of India had five names on its list. A report in The Sunday Guardian included two more.

This sudden interest in the Bharat Ratna did help uncover some interesting information. For instance, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chose Sachin Tendulkar over hockey legend Dhyan Chand, and that Subhash Chandra Bose’s kin want the government to de-classify the files that they have about him, instead of awarding him the Bharat Ratna.

After all the channels, newspapers and magazines discussed the issue threadbare, comes The Economic Times report. On August 15, the day most news reports – in print and electronic media – said would be day of judgement, the ET published its story. But, there was not even a peep from anyone else. After repeatedly saying that the awards were likely to be announced on or around August 15, it was as if the Bharat Ratna Episode had never happened.

It is of courser re-assuring that the newspapers work independently, but it it tad confusing for the reader/viewer. And we will need to wait for some more months to see which paper has the last laugh

