Yes. That's what we should be calling him soon if the Indian government wakes up this time. The reason being that the magnitude of Anand's achievements surpasses most of India's other sporting triumphs.
After football, chess is clearly the most widely played sport in the world. Though the game originated in India as 'chaturanga', it is the Russians who dominated the game for a long time. The emergence of Bobby Fischer increased the popularity of the game worldwide but soon the crown went back to the Russians. Therefore it is not surprising to have a Karpov or a Kasparov or a Kramnik emerge from Russia to dominate the chess scene for a while. Similarly in India it is not surprising that Sachin Tendulkar had Sunil Gavaskar and Anil Kumble had the famous spin trios to look up to as role models. However for Vishy Anand there was none in the whole of Asia who had travelled the same road that he found himself travelling. No fellow countrymen who could give him the same level of guidance that Sachin Tendulkar received on countless occasions from the Gavaskars, the Shastris or the Vengsarkars. Yet today Anand manges to win the World Championship for the second time in a sport which had seen only one non-Russian World Champion so far.
It is very difficult to build your own road to success in any field, be it entrepreneurship or sports. It calls for a single minded determination where you see nothing else but your target. Anand had that quality and much more. He was able to spot early on in his career that he needed to live and train in Europe to be able to play in more closed tournaments. He was helped by few good friends that he met on the way but then who would hesitate to help someone like Anand. He is clearly the most popular player in the current lot of super grandmasters, maintaining the smile and cordial relations with all his opponents. Easy as it might seem to think but actually it's most difficult to smile in chess after you have lost a game. That's largely due to the fact that you have been proven to be mentally inferior to your opponent. But Anand has always been graceful in defeat and had a witty answer to duck all controversial questions. After losing to Kasparov in New York he was asked if Kasparov's behaviour on the table had affected him. He replied that it was rather the moves Kasparov made that troubled him most! Such a sense of humor just after losing a the lifetime opportunity to challenge an all time great is phenomenal. Even when the FIDE was clearly biased towards a Anatoly Karpov or now to a Vladimir Kramnik, Anand continues to quietly do what he does best- play high quality chess!
That result of Anand's success is for everyone to see. The exponential growth in the number of International Masters and Grand Masters in India is all triggered by Anand's success. Now that he can lean back on Indian Grand Masters like Sandipan Chanda and IMs Konguvel and Saravanan to help him in the World Championship is an opportunity he himself has created. Despite being at the very top he is always there to help all Indian Chess players at top level. Harikrishan, Sasikiran, Humpy, Negi will all admit they have been helped by Anand at different stages. Now we have far more number of Indian players making a living out of playing chess than ever before. Needless to say Vishy has been single handedly responsible for the chess revolution in India.
Personally I have been very influenced by Vishy's level headedness. I have been closely following his chess and particularly his interviews since 1991. Now-a-days of course you have the bonus of seeing him speak live via youtube or chessbase. I wish him all the success in life and hope he retains his crown as well as the 2800 rating for many years. India needs performers like you Vishy! You are already our Bharat Ratna whether or not the government says so!
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