I can't believe this. A sportsman is confered one of the greatest honours by his country, and he chooses to do 'an ad film' or be 'busy in household work'!!!!
While I am not questioning the prerogative of Dhoni and Harbhajan to give the Padma Award ceremony a miss, I would definitely expect the Government to show some spine and withdraw the Awards to these two gents.
Will the BCCI tell these two AHs that they have certain moral obligations, social responsibilities as they are role models and ambassadors?
Indian Cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh were absent from Padma awards function which was held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday. This has kicked up a storm. Dhoni and Bhajji were to be honoured by the Padmashree Awards 2009 by President Pratibha Patil. TV sources said that both the cricketers were busy shooting for an ad film due to which they failed to turn up for the event. They also missed the previous ceremony due to their tour of New Zealand. When asked about it, Bhajji reportedly commented that he was busy with "some household work" and skipper Dhoni was not available for the comment.
