Bharat Ratna award nomination politicized: AAP leader Sanjay Singh

New Delhi: The nomination of former president Pranab Mukherjee for Bharat Ratna award received mixed reactions. While many welcomed the decision, several others felt it was politicized. A senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Sanjay Singh, criticized the government’s decision to confer the country’s highest civilian honour on Mukherjee while citing the former president’s links to an industrial house.

Sanjay Singh tweeted that Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Ram Manohar Lohia did not get the honour, but Mukherjee, who took part in an event at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Nagpur last year, had been chosen.

He also alleged that late Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh and the late singer Bhupen Hazarika, the other recipients of the Bharat Ratna this year, had links with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the RSS. He lamented that freedom fighters had not been accorded the honour.

Media advisor to Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal Nagendar Sharma also criticised the announcement of Bharat Ratna. The New Indian Express has quoted him as saying “Visiting RSS headquarters certainly pays extremely rich dividends in lifetime. Lapdog of Ambanis visiting RSS headquarters is a sure shot formula for achieving anything”.

Echoing AAP leaders’ thoughts, Janata Dal (Secular) leader Danish Ali also said Mukherjee was being awarded the Bharat Ratna as he had visited the RSS headquarters in Nagpur.

YouTube video