In Darjeeling, BJP offers Bharat Ratna for Tenzing if voted to power

Darjeeling: In an attempt to connect with the local populace, BJP vice president and nominee for the Darjeeling parliamentary seat S S Ahluwalia has said mountaineer Tenzing Norgay Sherpa deserves Bharat Ratna and the BJP will look into the matter if voted to power.

Edmund Hillary (R) and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay smile during an interview with Reuters.

Accusing both the state and the Centre of failing to recognise Tenzing's contribution, Ahluwalia said, "Successive governments had not even taken a Cabinet decision to recommend Tenzing Norgay's name for a Bharat Ratna to the President."

Ahluwalia visited the house of late Sherpa, who was the first to scale the Mount Everest alongwith Edmund Hillary in 1953, at D B Giri road here and met his son Jamling Tenzing Norgay Sherpa yesterday.

Jamling took the BJP candidate around the family's private museum and they spent around half-an-hour discussing Tenzing's achievement.

Later, Ahluwalia told reporters, "Tomorrow, I am filing my nomination but before doing so, I wanted to come and pay homage to the tallest figure of Darjeeling. Today is also a historic day as Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were sent to the gallows on this day in 1931."

With Jamling by his side, the BJP candidate said, "Tenzing was given Padma Bhushan only in 1959, six years after such a major international event in which an Indian was involved after Independence."

According to him, even the RBI should have issued coins of Tenzing Norgay.

The BJP candidate also said that the award should also be given to other sportsmen like Dhyan Chand and Milkha Singh.

"Have we forgotten our heroes of the 50s and 60s?" Ahluwalia asked.

"Ahluwalia has specifically said he will fight for Bharat Ratna for my father. I hope he lives up to his word. I am happy we have the support of the BJP candidate from Darjeeling. This will be an honour and recognition for Darjeeling," said Jamling, who has also conquered the world's highest peak.

The chorus for conferring Bharat Ratna on Tenzing, a resident of Darjeeling, gathered steam in the hills after the Centre had in 2012 extended the ambit of the country's highest civilian award to "recognise excellence in any field of human endeavour".

The population of the Sherpa community is pegged at around 1.4 lakh in the hills.

Earlier, the country's highest award was restricted to exceptional achievements in art, literature, science and public service.

Tenzing had received the George Medal in 1953 from the British government, Iran Shah Medal and the Nepal Tara and Nepal Pratap Vardak awards. He was also conferred with the USSR Sports Special Medal, French Sports Special Medal, Italian Sports Special Medal and Coronation Medal of Queen Elizabeth II.

The people of Darjeeling and particularly, the United Sherpa Association, had demanded that Tenzing be bestowed with Bharat Ratna.

Tenzing, who had scaled Mount Everest on May 29, 1953, died in 1986.

PTI