Does Vajpayee deserve a Bharat ratna? maybe- he presided over the rising confidence of India and Indians. But was it all his doing alone? No doubt his government did provide a great lot of impetus- his bold initiatives like the N-test brought India right into the centre of the international community. But was he any different from say Narasimha Rao? Had Rao had his way, he would taken India past the N-post. He had a sounder anti-terrorism policy: his policies weaned the Sikh community away from external supporters of separatism, his actions immediately after the Mumbai blasts were exemplary. His economic policies laid the seed for the boom later in the decade. So in many ways, what Vajpayee precipated was infact the brew that Rao had stoked, but which was stalled by a few years of inept 'third front' governments. The Vajpayee government did a very poor job at managing its Pakistan policy, as well as its Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal policy- literally allowing the US and China to peddle their influence on our periphery! I would rate Rao many notches higher than Vajpayee, though Rao had none of the charisma of the latter.
Does Jyoti Basu deserve a Bharat ratna? I ask back 'are you joking?' What does Basu have to his credit apart from preserving over the ruination of such a prosperous and industralized state as WB? And filling WB with Bangladeshi infiltrators?
Does old Karuna deserve a Bharat ratna? again a good 'maybe'. Karuna deserves credit for steadying the ebullient and volatile ship Tamil nationalism, controlling it from drowning in separatist frenzy and directing it towards the path of reconciliation and development. He does have his many drawbacks and idisyncracies though. Although he has joined the mainstream of national politics, he has not faciliated a diaologue between the Tamils and the 'North'. Nor has he expanded the pan-Dravidian vision to faciliate a spirit of friendship between the Southern states. He has not managed to rationalize the promise of the Dravidian movement and realize a unified society - the legacy of the Dravidian movement today is the inexorable proloferation of so many caste-based outfits. Progress for Dalits is still distant. He hasnt shown a consistent Sri Lanka policy either- although that might still not be entirely of his doing, what can any one do with a mercurial personality like Prabaharan.
The only person currently being discussed, on whose behalf I will answer rather than pose the question: Kanshiram does deserve a Bharat ratna. Afterall in how many instances in the world do marginalized communities achieve social justice without 'slitting a single throat' ( see this rediff article)? His pupil and mentee Mayavati has shown the way forward for caste reconciliation in India. This man towers over all modern Hindu social reformers who in their bitterness dont think about long-term consequences of the politics of revenge.
