No Padma Shri award for India’s first individual Olympic medalist why?

wrestler-Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav

Ranjit Jadhav, son of veteran wrestler Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, has demanded the country’s highest civilian honor Bharat Ratna for the late father. He said that my father was the first Indian player to win an individual medal at the Olympics (Helsinki, 1952) but did not get the Padma award while TV producer Ekta Kapoor received it.Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav

Ranjit questioned that someone like Ekta Kapoor was given Padma Shri this year. What was the social significance of giving the award to her?

It is to be noted that Kashaba Jadhav was the first Indian to win an individual medal at the Olympics. Kashaba Jadhav, who was a native of village Gokuleshwar in Satara district of western Maharashtra, had clinched a bronze medal in wrestling at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Kashaba was conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2001 i.e 17 years after the renowned wrestler passed away in 1984.

Ranjit also threw some light on past awardees from 1954 to 1984 and claimed that there was no Olympian in that list. He said, “My father won an Olympics medal in 1952. If you look at the list of award winners from 1954 to 1984, several sportspersons got Padma Shri, some got even Padma Bhushan, while few got all three (including Padma Vibhushan). However, there was no Olympian among them barring hockey wizard Major Dhyanchand and few other hockey players.”Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav-wrestler

Ranjit said that he has been fighting for the past 19 years for his father to be conferred with the Padma awards. “For the past 19 years, I have been trying my best to ensure that my father gets Bharat Ratna, or at least a Padma award, posthumously. My father died in 1984 and after 17 years was awarded with the Arjuna award,” he said.

He also said that after his father the nation had to wait for 44 years to get an individual medal in the Olympics and this alone highlights the greatness of his father.

Ranjit also said that other than him some MPs had also raised the demand of Bharat Ratna for Kashaba Jadhav in past but the union government has not paid any heed to these demands. He also urged the member of parliaments from Maharashtra to convince the central government to honour his father posthumously.