Renaming Khel Ratna award not people’s wish, but a political game: Sena

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ The Shiv Sena has claimed the Centre’s decision to rename the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award after hockey legend Dhyan Chand was not the people’s wish, but a “political game”.

An editorial in the Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ also asked what was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s contribution to cricket that a stadium (in Ahmedabad) was named after him.

India’s highest sporting honour Khel Ratna Award, which was named after former PM Rajiv Gandhi, was on Friday rechristened in the honour of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand, following the admirable performance of both men’s and women’s hockey teams in the Tokyo Olympics.

Making the announcement, Prime Minister Modi said he had been getting many requests from citizens across India to name the Khel Ratna Award after Major Dhyan Chand.

On Monday, the editorial in ‘Saamana’ said late prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were victims of terror acts. There could be political differences with leaders like them, but their sacrifices towards the country’s development cannot be mocked, it opined.