Despite the reservations expressed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and former minister A K Balan that persons nominated by the Kerala Government were not being considered by the Government of India for the country’s civilian honours, the State is as usual in a Padma fever. The Rashtrapathi Bhavan would declare the names of the Padma awards (India’s civilian awards) by Tuesday evening, the eve of the Republic Day. If the number of phone calls received by media offices and journalists enquiring whether the ‘list’ has been released is any indication, there is no dearth for people’s craving, especially that of the nouveau riche for this recognition by the Union Government.
Balan, a CPI(M) leader reportedly told that since the Modi government assumed power in New Delhi, the civilian awards are bestowed on tribals and traditional physicians/artisans leaving the intellectual class high and dry. Chief minister Vijayan went one step further and announced that his Government would honour the crème de la crème of the Kerala society with new awards to be known as Kerala Sri and Malayala Simham (Simham is the Malayalam for Lion).
But these announcements have not dampened the spirit of the honour seekers. There were reports of a Malayali businessman spending Rs 4.5 crore for a Padma honour. Ranjith, the chairman of Kerala State Film development Corporation has made a movie in 2010 ‘Pranchiyettan And The Saint’ starring mega star Mammootty. The protagonist, a Thrissur based businessman pays Rs 1.5 crore to a wheeler dealer who promises him a Padma Sri so that Pranchiyettan could get his name anglicised to Padma Sri Francis. But he gets deceived in the end.
Bobby Chemmannur, a businessman from Thrissur, said in a Television interview that some persons had approached him promising a Padma honour. “But they wanted Rs 50 lakh to meet initial expenses and hence I gave up the attempt,” he said. Chemmannur is a favourite character in social media for those engaged in trolling and spoofs.
Though these awards do not bring any cash or other benefits, the crave for this recognition is increasing by leaps and bounds. The only notable feature of these awards namely Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Sri is the honours reserved for the winners. The Padma awardee would get State honours during their last rites. The Police would fire a volley of bullets in the air to mark the end of the awardee’s life journey.
Film actors, musicians, writers, CPI(M)’s intellectual faces, missionaries, media barons, expatriates in West Asia and USA and former politicians form the list of hopefuls from Kerala. The bandwagon from Tamil Nadu too constitute the same categories. There are persons who have postponed their Padma aspirations to 2025 and they are confident that they would get the honours during Republic Day 2025.
