Why fix something that isn’t broken? But maybe this doesn’t apply to the Prime Minister of India, who despite knowing that a certain law or a certain city or a certain stadium or a certain award, the list can go on forever, doesn’t need a name change.
I mean, if you look at the cities whose names have been changed by Uttar Pradesh CM Adityanath Yogi are endless starting with cities like Allahabad to Prayagraj, Faizabad to Ayodhya, Mughalsarai to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar and more. All this has been done under the pretence of Hindutva and restoring Hindustan’s Tradition and Culture but that doesn’t justify the actions.
Coming back to the topic, Narendra Modi has done it again by renaming the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award to the Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award.
Following the excellent performance of both men’s and women’s hockey teams at the Tokyo Olympics, India’s top sports honour, the Khel Ratna Award, which was formerly named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was renamed in honour of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand yesterday.
He tweeted, “Respecting their sentiment, the Khel Ratna Award will hereby be called the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award! Major Dhyan Chand was among India’s foremost sportspersons who brought honour and pride to India. It is fitting that our nation’s highest sporting honour will be named after him.
The Controversy:
Everyone is debating if PM Modi’s rationale behind the award’s naming is that a sportsperson’s award should be named after a sportsperson. People are wondering if the same holds true for the cricket stadium named after the Prime Minister.
People should petition Prime Minister Modi to rename the world’s largest cricket stadium from Narendra Modi stadium after a sportsman, a cricketer, a badminton player, a wrestler, a gymnast, a footballer, or an archer!! Politicians’ contribution to sports promotion and greatness is infinitesimally little!!
Although, Hockey is India’s national sport, and the Khel Ratna trophy, named for the three-time Olympic gold medallist, is only a belated tribute to the legend.
But seeing Modi led BJP is ready to change the names of the Gandhi clans’ airports, stadiums, buildings, institutions, prizes, and tournaments to something else, we can soon witness another name change. There are all set to make history in the name of them. while prepared to erase Congress’s imprint from the future.
There is no such thing as a decent blend of politics and sports. Politics cannot be compared to a sporting event!