Pranab, Nanaji, Bhupen Hazarika conferred Bharat Ratna, check out the complete list of recipients so far

President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday conferred the Bharat Ratna on former president Pranab Mukherjee. The award, the highest civilian award in India, was also conferred on Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh and legendary singer-composer Bhupen Hazarika posthumously. In an official statement, the government said Deshmukh and Hazarika were conferred the award posthumously. Mukherjee, fondly known as 'Pranab Da', was the president between 2012 and 2017.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Mukherjee, fondly known as 'Pranab Da', and said that he has served the nation selflessly and tirelessly for decades, leaving a strong imprint on the nation's growth trajectory.

"His (Mukherjee) wisdom and intellect have few parallels. Delighted that he has been conferred the Bharat Ratna," PM Modi tweeted.

Referring to Deshmukh - who was associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since 1928 till his death in Satna, Madhya Pradesh – PM Modi said that his stellar contribution towards rural development showed the way for a new paradigm of empowering those living in our villages.

"He (Deshmukh) personifies humility, compassion, and service to the downtrodden. He is a Bharat Ratna in the truest sense!" he tweeted.

Praising Hazarika - who was a playback singer, lyricist, musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam – the prime minister said his songs and music are admired by people across generations.

The award is being conferred after a gap of four years. Founder of Banaras Hindu University Madan Mohan Malviya and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were given the award by the Narendra Modi-led government in 2015.

Bharat Ratna was instituted in the year 1954. With these three recipients, 48 eminent people have been conferred the award so far. Let’s have a look at complete list of recipients so far.

1. Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1954)

2. Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1954)

3. Sir C V Raman (1954)

4. Bhagwan Das (1955)

5. Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya (1955)

6. Jawaharlal Nehru (1955)

7. Govind Ballabh Pant (1957)

8. Dhondo Keshav Karve (1958)

9. Dr B C Roy (1961)

10. Purushottam Das Tandon (1961)

11. Dr Rajendra Prasad (1962)

12. Dr. Zakir Hussain (1963)

13. Pandurang Vaman Kane (1963)

14. Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966)

15. Indira Gandhi (1971)

16. V V Giri (1975)

17. K Kamaraj (1976)

18. Mother Teresa (1980)

19. Acharya Vinoba Bhave (1983)

20. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987)

21. M G Ramachandran (1988)

22. B R Ambedkar (1990)

23. Nelson Mandela (1990)

24. Rajiv Gandhi (1991)

25. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1991)

26. Morarji Desai (1991)

27. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1992)

28. J R D Tata (1992)

29. Satyajit Ray (1992)

30. A P J Abdul Kalam (1997)

31. Gulzarilal Nanda (1997)

32. Aruna Asaf Ali (1997)

33. M S Subbulakshmi (1998)

34. Chidambaram Subramaniam (1998)

35. Jayaprakash Narayan (1998)

36. Pandit Ravi Shankar (1999)

37. Amartya Sen (1999)

38. Gopinath Bordoloi (1999)

39. Lata Mangeshkar (2001)

40. Ustad Bismillah Khan (2001)

41. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi (2008)

42. CNR Rao (2014)

43. Sachin Tendulkar (2014)

44. Madan Mohan Malaviya (2015)

45. Atal Bihari Vajpayee (2015)

46. Pranab Mukherjee (2018)

47. Nanaji Deshmukh (2018)

48. Bhupen Hazarika (2018)