Furious Saina hits out at Sports Ministry over Padma denial
Sabi Hussain
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 3
Badminton ace Saina Nehwal on Saturday came down heavily on the Sports Ministry after her name did not figure on the list of this year’s prestigious Padma Bhushan Award, the country's third highest civilian honour.
Saina was furious at the award being handed to two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, despite him not completing five years following his Padma Shri award in 2011.
The ministry decided Sushil’s case to be "highly-deserving" and "special" and felt that the wrestler deserved the award more than Saina, India's lone Olympic medallist in badminton, who was bestowed the Khel Ratna and Padma Shri in 2010 and also the Arjuna Award in 2009.
As per the norms, there has to be a gap of at least five years between two Padma awards to the same person and Sushil, having got the Padma Shri in 2011, wouldn’t have been eligible for the Padma Bhushan before 2016.
Saina had forwarded her application for Padma Bhushan in 2013 as well, but at that time, the ministry cited the five-year rule to deny her the award. But, even after the cooling-off period, the Hyderabad player’s name was not included.
"If you talk about rules, I am eligible for the award this year. I had sent my application in 2013, but they said five years were not completed after the Padma Shri, so I again applied last year,” said Saina.
“I feel both of us can get the award, because we both have won the Olympic medal at the same time. My case is also special like Sushil, because this medal in Olympics was first ever by any badminton player. I, too, deserve the award," Saina said.
Observers, however, feel Saina can’t justify demanding the highest state conferred civilian decoration, when there is a ministry panel to decide who’s the deserving candidate. Saina's credentials cannot be overlooked, but same is the case with Haryana grappler Sushil — he had won the 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze, 2012 London Games silver, 2010 World Championships gold, 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medals, and the 2010 Asian Championships gold.
Also, there’s a provision in the Padma Awards for "highly-deserving" cases — where a relaxation can be made by the awards committee — and it’s not that a rule was broken for Sushil.
Every year, a flood of applications reaches the awards committee. The panel goes through the reams of paper before short-listing the winners.
"The issue of Sushil’s ineligibility was, indeed, discussed before making it final. The committee doesn't always follow the rules when the Home Ministry has the prerogative to relax the rules in highly deserving cases," a ministry official told The Tribune.
