Prime Minister Narendra Modi today renamed the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting honour of the country, after hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand. But the renaming of the award drew criticism from various circles, including political parties.

Hours after the Indian women hockey team lost to Great in the match for the third position, the Prime Minister spoke to the players. He then tweeted that “the exceptional performance of the men and women hockey teams has captured the imagination of our entire nation. There is a renewed interest towards hockey that is emerging across the length and breadth of India. This is a very positive sign for the coming times”.

Stating that he had been getting “many requests from citizens across India to name the Khel Ratna Award after Major Dhyan Chand,” Modi said: “I thank them for their views. Respecting their sentiment, the Khel Ratna Award will hereby be called the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.”

“Major Dhyan Chand was among Indias foremost sportspersons who brought honour and pride for India. It is fitting that our nations highest sporting honour will be named after him,” he said. He did not mention the full name of the award which he was renaming.

But it was not difficult to understand that renaming of the award by the Prime Minister was not a right decision. It has been a long-standing demand that Dhyan Chand being the most popular sports legend of India, he should be honoured with the Bharat Ratna Award. But no government paid heed to this demand.

Now renaming the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, Prime Minister Modi has clearly denied the Bharat Ratna Award to the hockey legend. Will Major Dhyan Chand be happy in his grave that instead of honouring him with the Bharat Ratna Award, Prime Minister Modi has only renamed the Khel Ratna Award after him ? Will Dhyan Chand be happy to know that he was given an honour which was snatched away from former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ?

The Congress said the Prime Minister “should not have dragged the name of a celebrated player like Major Dhyan Chand for his myopic political motives”. The party accused the Prime Minister of trying to divert attention from issues like the Pegasus row, farmer protests and rise in prices.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, in a Twitter post, said: “First the Sardar Patel cricket stadium in Ahmedabad was renamed as Narendra Modi stadium. I was surprised he named it (the award) after Dhyan Chandji. I was hoping he would rename the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award as the Narendra Modi Khel Award.”