Rajya Sabha members demand Bharat Ratna for Dhyan Chand
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Cutting across party lines, Rajya Sabha members on Thursday demanded Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour in India, for Indian hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand. The hockey wizard had won three Olympic gold medals in field hockey, for India between 1928 and 1936.
Chandrapal Singh Yadav of Samajwadi Party (SP) raised the issue during the Zero Hour, about the hockey legend being denied the highest civilian honour even after winning laurels for the country.
“Major Dhyan Chand received awards and accolades across the world including from Adolf Hitler and the British government. But in our country, he has still not been appreciated as he should have been for making India a world power in hockey,” Yadav said, reported PTI.
The issue raised by Yadav received support from other Rajya Sabha members and Deputy Chairman P J Kurien.
“It has the full support of the House,” Kurien said.
In March this year, former Indian hockey team captain Dilip Tirkey, currently a member of Rajya Sabha of the Biju Janata Dal, had raised the same issue and talked about discrimination against certain Indian sports like hockey and kabaddi. Â
