New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI): Speculation is rife that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose may be named for the country's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna.
The speculation has been fuelled by the Home Ministry placing an order for five Bharat Ratna medallions.
BJP leaders have in the past demanded Bharat Ratna be awarded to Vajpayee.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is heading the BJP-led government now, would take call on this and probably would announced it in his Independence Day speech.
Among others whose names are being speculated is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
A senior Home Ministry official said that four days back the government mint had been asked to make for five medallions of the Bharat Ratna.
"But ordering five medallions does not mean that five persons will be bestowed with Bharat Ratna. This is to keep adequate number of medallions in reserve," he said.
Besides, the government's rule for Bharat Ratna is clear that the number of annual awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a particular year.
Netaji kin do not want Bharat Ratna for the freedom fighter
Amidst speculation that India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna may be conferred on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, a majority of his family members today disapproved of the idea and instead demanded that the mystery of his disappearance be solved first.
"Netaji has been missing since 1945. When you award him with Bharat Ratna posthumously, you have to say when he died, but where is the evidence? The best way to honour him is to declassify government files which can reveal the truth behind his disappearance," Netaji's grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose told PTI.
He said that he had spoken to around 60 family members of the great leader, none of whom was willing to accept the award on his behalf.
"All of us feel that Bharat Ratna is not the appropriate award for him. None of us will go and accept the award," Bose said.
The family and members of the Open Platform for Netaji had recently written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding formation of a Special Investigation Team under the guidance of a sitting judge of the Supreme Court to investigate into Netaji's disappearance.
When under house arrest by the British, Netaji had escaped from India in 1941 to seek international support for India's freedom struggle.
He went missing in 1945, giving birth to India's most debated and lingering mystery ever. The Mukherjee Commission had rejected the opinion that he died in a plane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945.