With the union government conferring the Bharat Ratna award to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was the first person to have been born in the Braj region to be given this esteemed award, the local literary scholars are now demanding a Bharat Ratna for Mirza Ghalib, who they claim, hasn't been given his due recognition despite his notable contributions to the development of Urdu as a poetic language.

Incidentally, Ghalib was born in the Kala Mahal area of Agra on 27th December 1797, where now there is no sign of his house and instead, it is now an inter college for girls. While there are plenty of memorials for Ghalib in Delhi, where he lived since the age of 13 years, there are none in Agra. However, a Mirza Ghalib Research Academy has recently started functioning in Agra where research on Ghalib and his literature is promoted.

Talking to India Today, the convener of the academy Dr. Iftiyaar Zafri said that there are over 250 Madarsas and Islamic schools in Agra where Urdu is the primary language of instruction, but the man who elevated Urdu from the tongue of lowly commoners to a poetic language, has been completely forgotten in his own birth-town. He said that hundreds of people had conducted research on Ghalib and have been awarded Ph.D. and other doctoral degrees, but still, this immortal poet deserves better recognition, which could be afforded to him, if the government confers him with Bharat Ratna, as he was truly a gem of India. He said that there was no limit of time on awarding Bharat Ratna posthumously and considering the great service Ghalib did to the country's literature, he deserves this award.

On Friday, a meeting was called to formalise the preparations of Ghalib's birth anniversary where senior Muslim leader Haji Jamiluddin said that it will be a matter of great honor for the Braj region, if after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Mirza Ghalib too gets recommended for the award, as he is also a global personality. Former Tourism Guild president Arun Dang demanded that a Ghalib Memorial be established in Agra and a road be named Mirza Ghalib Road. He said that this demand has been sent to the state government several times and once a municipal resolution was also passed for the naming of a road in his name, but somehow it never materialized, despite Urdu being one of the official languages of Uttar Pradesh.

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