Calculations that led L K Advani to demand a Bharat Ratna for Atal Bihari Vajpayee will remain subject of speculation, but the BJP finds itself in a fix as more and more claims are adding up for the top civilian honour of the country.

Monday saw a number of leaders hopping the Bharat Ratna bandwagon, demanding the honour for their “jewels”. LJP leader Ramvilas Paswan demanded Bharat Ratna for Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Babu Jagjivan Ram, and Mohd Rafi; Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad demanded it for Karpuri Thakur; Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his late father Biju Patnaik and Assam state unit of the Samajwadi Party wants it for Mulayam Singh. Mayawati has already demanded the honour for Kanshi Ram last week.

While the Congress is keeping a safe distance from the controversy, the BJP, which kickstarted it all, is unable to formulate a position on the demands. “We will respond to these questions in due time,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, when questioned on the party’s position on awarding Bharat Ratna to Phule, Karpuri Thakur, Rammanohar Lohia, Kanshi Ram, Jagjivan Ram etc.

Advani, who envisaged a win-win situation by demanding Bharat Ratna for Vajpayee, will now have to fine-tune a response to the wide range of demands. Since each demand is connected to a particular sectional interest, supporting or opposing it is not an option before the party. Party cannot easily equivocate either, after taking a definite position in the case of Vajpayee.

Particularly troublesome for the BJP is the demand from Patnaik, a close ally of the party. “There have been demands for conferring Bharat Ratna to Biju Babu earlier too, but now we will do this in a dignified and correct manner to suit the legendary personality,” the Orissa CM said on Monday. Leaders of the Biju Janata Dal also pointed out that Biju Patnaik has been conferred several prestigious civilian honours in Indonesia and Russia but has not been not given proper recognition in India. Biju Patnaik was a freedom fighter, industrialist and statesman, they said.

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