Flying Sikh Milkha Singh calls for awarding Bharat Ratna to Major Dhyan Chand

New Delhi: Flying Sikh Milkha Singh has welcomed the awarding of Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, to batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, but has also added that the Bharat Ratna should also be awarded posthumously to hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, who brought international fame to Indian hockey."We should not forget the contribution of Dhyan Chand to Indian hockey", said Milkha Singh, who is himself a renowned figure in athletics. Hockey Olympian Ashok Kumar, son of late Major Dhyan Chand, said: "I am happy that Sachin got this great honour. He is a great cricketer. But as a son, I am sad that my father, on whose birth anniversary the nation celebrates National Sports Day, is yet to get the honour. "My father brought laurels to India in Olympics, and gave a new identity to India in the field of hockey. I still hope that my father will be awarded the Bharat Ratna", said Ashok Kumar. He said, "We had followed the complete process. We were asked to fill up the forms. Records of my father were sought. Documents were submitted. The Sports Ministry recommended my father's name too, but we still continue to wait."Reports said Major Dhyan Chand's name was in contention till the final weeks leading up to the Wankhede Test match, where Sachin Tendulkar announced his retirement from cricket. While the Sports Ministry felt that both Dhyan Chand and Sachin Tendulkar should get the Bharat Ratna together, the decision was finally taken to give the honour to Tendulkar alone because of his popular appeal. The conferring of Bharat Ratna does not require a jury. The prime minister recommends the name and the President concurs. The PMO sent the file for Bharat Ratna to the President on Friday night, and on Saturday afternoon, the President sent back with his concurrence, at exactly the same time when Tendulkar took off his boots. Now let's have a look at the 43 eminent persons awarded the Bharat Ratna till date: C Rajagopalachari, S Radhakrishnan, C V Raman (all in 1954), Seth Bhagwan Dass, Jawaharlal Nehru and M. Visvesvaraya (all in 1955), G B Pant (1957), D K Karve (1958), Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, Purushottam Das Tandon (both in 1961), Dr Rajendra Prasad (1962), Zakir Hussain and P V Kane (both in 1963), Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966), Indira Gandhi (1971), V V Giri (1975), K. Kamraj (1976), Mother Teresa (1980), Acharya Vinoba Bhave (1983), Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987), M G Ramachandran (1988), Dr B R Ambedkar and Nelson Mandela (1990), Rajiv Gandhi, Morarji Desai and Vallabhbhai Patel (all in 1991), Maulana Azad, J R D Tata and Satyajit Ray (all in 1992), Gulzarilal Nanda, Aruna Asaf Ali and APJ Abdul Kalam (all in 1997), M S Subbulakshmi and C. Subramaniam (both in 1998), Gopinath Bordoloi, Jayaprakash Narayan, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Amartya Sen (all in 1999), Lata Mangeshkhar and Ustad Bismillah Khan (2001), Pandit Bhimsen Joshi (2009), Sachin Tendulkar and CNR Rao (2013).