GOVT RENAMES KHEL RATNA AWARD AFTER DHYAN CHAND
NEW DELHI: India’s highest sporting honour, the Khel Ratna Award which was named after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, was on Friday rechristened in the honour of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand following the admirable performance of both men’s and women’s hockey teams in the Tokyo Olympics.
While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hailed the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union home minister Amit Shah calling it a true tribute to one of India’s greatest sportspersons, the Congress too welcomed it but accused Modi of having “myopic political motive” and demanded that he should also change stadiums named after him and late BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
Modi tweeted that he had been getting many requests from citizens across India to name the Khel Ratna Award after Major Dhyan Chand.
“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 for India. It is fitting that our nation’s highest sporting honour will be named after him,” he said.
The exceptional performance of the men’s and women’s hockey teams has captured the imagination of our entire nation, the Prime Minister said, adding that there is a renewed interest towards the sport that is emerging across the length and breadth of India.
The prestigious award carries a prize money of ₹25 lakh.
At a press conference, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said his party welcomes the decision to name the award after the “the most celebrated sportsperson and hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand”.
He then took a swipe at Modi for allegedly having “myopic political motive” in taking the decision.
“We sincerely hope that now that a new beginning has been made, Modi ji will announce changing the name of Narendra Modi stadium and Arun Jaitley stadium and name them after legendary sportspersons like Milkha Singh, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Leander Paes, PT Usha, Mary Kom, Abhinav Bindra, and many many others,” he added.