Baba Ramdev not among those who declined Padma Award: MHA

NEW DELHI: The Home Ministry says five persons selected for Padma Awards earlier this year refused to accept the same but Baba Ramdev was not among them.

In a reply to a RTI application by activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal who asked names of Padma awardees who had refused to accept Padma awards in 2015, the Home Ministry has now listed out five names -- film writer Salim Khan, spiritual gurus Mata Amritanandamai and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, family of late spiritual head of Dawoodi Bohra Muslims Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin and the former Indian Ambassador to US, KS Bajpayee.

This would now imply that Baba Ramdev was not shortlisted for the Padma Awards. ET had earlier reported on January 28 that Ramdev was never on the Padma Award shortlist and his action of writing to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to opt out for the award was based only on media reports that he was about to get one. Baba Ramdev was also not among the persons who were personally called up by either Rajnath Singh or Home Ministry officials to inform of an impending Padma award.

Singh had spoken to 7-8 persons including Amitabh Bacchan, LK Advani and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to inform them of the government's decision of awarding them a Padma Vibhushan. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar declined the same, telling Singh someone else should be given the honour. Salim Khan declined a Padma Shri saying he deserved a Padma Bhushan while reasons for Kerala's famous spiritual guru Mata Amritanandamai, also known as Amma, to decline the award are not known.

Baba Ramdev was however among the 1800-odd names which were received by the government as recommendations for Padma Awards from various quarters. Last week, Ramdev had created a controversy when he said that there is intense lobbying for Padma Awards and those with political influence succeed in getting them.