The Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation, a prominent outfit in the field of adventure and sports in Bengal, has demanded a Bharat Ratna for Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, who climbed Mount Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953.
On Sunday, Animesh Bose, the HNAF programme coordinator, said they wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Darjeeling MP Raju Bista with their plea.
“He (Tenzing Norgay) is a 'Bharat Ratna' in the true sense of the term. If Sir Edmund Hillary can be bestowed the Order of New Zealand and knighthood, we fail to understand the delay in conferring India's highest civilian award to Tenzing Norgay Sherpa,” said Bose.
Hillary and Tenzing were the first in the world to conquer Everest on May 29, 1953. The 70th anniversary of the historic ascent will be celebrated across the globe on Monday.
Hillary was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in June 1953 and was also made the fourth appointee to the Order of New Zealand in 1987, apart from getting numerous awards from across the world.
Tenzing received a host of medals from Britain, Iran, Nepal, the erstwhile Soviet Union, France and Italy. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1959 and a posthumous Padma Vibhushan in 2008, some 22 years after his death at the age of 71.
The demand for Bharat Ratna for Tenzing is being raised since 2012 after the Centre extended the ambit of the award to “recognise excellence in any field of human endeavour”. Earlier, the award was restricted to exceptional achievements in art, literature, science and public service.
Siliguri mayor and Trinamul leader Gautam Deb also slammed the Centre for the delay. “It has been more than a decade of raising the demand. We first raised the demand in 2012. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly raised the issue with the Centre but they have been ignoring it,” said Deb.
Former BJP Darjeeling MP S.S. Ahluwalia had promised to take up the issue while campaigning for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
“Their (the BJP’s) MP is winning from Darjeeling since 2009 but we have neither seen their MPs nor the central government taking any initiative to confer the award to our country’s pride,” Ranjan Sarkar, the deputy mayor of the Siliguri civic body, added.
BJP leaders, however, said they had raised the demand in Parliament.
Raju Bista, the Darjeeling MP said: “I have raised the demand in Parliament and am working on this issue.” The BJP MP raised the demand in Parliament on March 12, 2020.
Anandamoy Barman, the president of BJP’s Siliguri organisational district, added: “An expert panel in the central government is looking into the matter. Tenzing Norgey’s achievement is undoubtedly remarkable.”
