Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced the country's highest sporting award 'Khel Ratna Award' named as 'Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award'. Till now the award was known as the 'Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award'.
Hockey legend, Major Dhyan Chand, had represented India from 1926 to 1949 and scored over 400 goals in his career. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh.
In a series of tweets, Prime Minister Modi made the announcement renaming the Khel Ratna Award.
"I have been getting many requests from citizens across India to name the Khel Ratna Award after Major Dhyan Chand. I thank them for their views. Respecting their sentiment, the Khel Ratna Award will hereby be called the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. Jai Hind," Modi said.
"Major Dhyan Chand was among India's foremost sportspersons who brought honour and pride for India. It is fitting that our nation's highest sporting honour will be named after him," he said.
The news soon went viral earning praise for giving Major Dhyan Chand his due.
However, people were quick to allege a political motive behind the act. Many people wrote on Twitter that the award was renamed to take a dig at Rajiv Gandhi. Numerous tweets suggested that while we are renaming sports awards after sports personalities, we should also rename the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Soon, others suggested that we should rename all the stadiums named after political personalities, including those that are named after Rajiv Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
The feud is all over Twitter as Indians continue to argue over the issue.
Have a look.
With inputs from IANS.