MS Dhoni's Padma Bhushan nomination annoys India’s first Olympic medallist KD Jadhav’s son

Ranjit Jadhav, the son of late KD Jadhav, is not happy after understanding that MS Dhoni has been nominated for the Padma Bhushan award. His father was the first sportsman from India to win an individual Olympic medal for the country. He had won the Bronze medal in wrestling at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Ranjit has been long fighting for his father to be considered for the second highest civilian award.

Jadhav was honoured with the Arjuna award in 2001. The former Indian captain, Dhoni was nominated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the prestigious award on Wednesday. While the move garnered a collective applause from the fans and the cricketing fraternity, Ranjit has been left fuming after the move. However, Dhoni also has done the country proud and his illustrious career deserves to be considered as well.

Cricketers are like Kings in India

Ranjit Jadhav believed that the popularity of cricket as a sport in India has left the other deserving sportsmen in the country behind.

“Look cricketers enjoy the status of kings in our country. It’s good that Dhoni has reached where he has from a humble beginning. But what about Khashaba Jadhav who did it against all odds at a time India had never won an individual Olympic medal,” he said.

He also claimed to have received an assurance from Maharashtra Government that they would forward Khashaba Jadhav’s nomination for Padma Bhushan this year. But questioned the commitment of the higher officials when they refused to show him the online nomination list.

“Officials in higher ups have told me they have moved the file. But they refuse to show me the online nominated list. I am not sure. I don’t want to give up and have sent the nomination in personal capacity. To me it’s a question of honouring a landmark achievement, India‘s first Olympic medallist and who is fully deserving,” he added.