Bharat Ratna not for Sachin Tendulkar but for Dhyan Chand?

[Tendulkar_Bhai]

BB, its not an either or situation. We can do both. Whether or not Rajiv Gandhi should get the BR or not is not the question. That is debatable too, no doubt. The question is should sports persons be eligible for the Highest Civilian Award of the land? I don't think so. Can you imagine Michael Jordan getting USA's highest Civilian Award? Or Flintoff (or whoever was the best all time English cricketer) getting highest civilian award from the queen?

Yes i can, Sir Ian Botham (OBE), Sir Richard Hadley (OBE), plus the whole England team got a MBE for winning ONE SERIES IN AUSTRALIA!! I agree these should be services to society, but in sport when you play for your country are you not also serving your country above yourself? Sure you benefit but the likes of Tendulkar and Dravid are great role models to the young and will have inspired millions to achieve success, but bring hours of entertainment and enjoyment to all citizens, is this not also serving your country?

[rabinjackman]

Obama got Nobel peace prize. Anything is game in awards and ratna's

[Magneto]

If we have to restrict Bharat Ratna only to people who will inspire people 50 years from now, we will run out of Bharat Ratnas pretty soon and might as well stop giving the award. As of today, Bharat Ratna is possibly awarded to people who have been extraordinary in their field of achievement and has been highly regarded the world over because of their exceptional talent.

[Andrew Peter]

And what is the contribution of Bismillah Khan and Lata " Jeeeee " to the Indian society in general ? Atleast a Sportsperson like Sachin can inspire and instill pride among his countrymen compared to all the artists + Bolly ***s combined together .