Yoga guru Ramdev questions govt on Bharat Ratna, asks 'why no ‘sadhu’ felicitated in past 70 years'

He said it was unfortunate that the contribution of saints in nation building goes unnoticed by the government, and appealed that next time somebody from the saint community should be considered for the highest civilian award.

Baba Ramdev pushes for Bharat Ratna for saint community/ Image: PTI

New Delhi: On the 70th Republic Day of the country, Yog Guru Baba Ramdev lamented that not a single person from the saint and seer community has been chosen for country’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in the past 70 years. He said it was unfortunate that the contribution of saints in nation building goes unnoticed by the government. He appealed that next time somebody from the saint community should be considered by the government for the highest civilian award. “It is very unforynate that in the past 70 years of marking Republic Day, not one saint has been honoured with Bharat Ratna. Saints like Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Vivekanand, Shivakumara Swami who have contributed a lot in the nation-building process, have never been acknowledged. His statement comes  in the wake of demands for conferring the 'Bharat Ratna' on Lingayat seer Shivakumara Swami who died recently. Former President Pranab Mukherjee, Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh and singer Bhupen Hazarika were on Friday conferred the country's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna. The Bharat Ratna has been conferred after a gap of four years. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and founder of Banaras Hindu University Madan Mohan Malviya were given the award by the Narendra Modi government in 2015. On the occasion of country’s 70^th Republic Day, Ramdev hoisted a 108 feet high national flag in Patanjali phase-1, situated in Haridwar, in the presence of Acharya Balkrishna and about 8 thousand staff and students of Patanjali. On the occasion, he emphasized that India is yet to gain political and financial independence. He congratulated former President Pranab Mukherjee on being felicitated with Bharat Ratna. Also, he exhorted for a quick and effective steps for building Ram Temple. At the same time, he was also seen promoting family planning and urged people to have not more than two children, to keep a check on population growth.