Former president and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee will be conferred with highest civilian award 'Bharat Ratna'. Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader late Nanaji Deshmukh and famous singer Bhupen Hazarika will also be conferred with the award. In an official statement, the government said Deshmukh and Hazarika were conferred the award posthumously.Â
Reacting to the news, Pranab Mukherjee said, “It is with a deep sense of humility & gratitude to people of India that I accept this great honour Bharat Ratna bestowed upon me. I've always said & I repeat, that I've got more from the people of our great country than I have given to them.â€
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to twitter and and congratulated Pranab Mukherjee. "Pranab Da is an outstanding statesman of our times. He has served the nation selflessly and tirelessly for decades, leaving a strong imprint on the nation's growth trajectory. His wisdom and intellect have few parallels. Delighted that he has been conferred the Bharat Ratna," PM Modi wrote.
The Prime Minister also recalled social activist Nanaji Deshmukh's "stellar contribution towards rural development". Nanaji empowered those living in villages, said the Prime Minister.
"Nanaji Deshmukh's stellar contribution towards rural development showed the way for a new paradigm of empowering those living in our villages. He personifies humility, compassion and service to the downtrodden. He is a Bharat Ratna in the truest sense!" he tweeted.
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Recalling the contribution to Indian art and culture by music maestro Bhupen Hazarika, the Prime Minister tweeted, "The songs and music of Shri Bhupen Hazarika are admired by people across generations. From them radiates the message of justice, harmony and brotherhood. He popularised India's musical traditions globally. Happy that the Bharat Ratna has been conferred on Bhupen Da."
The Bharat Ratna will be conferred after a gap of four years. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and founder of Banaras Hindu University Madan Mohan Malviya were given the award by the Narendra Modi government in 2015. The 83-year-old Mukherjee, who was also known as the quintessential Man Friday of the Congress, joins the elite club with Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Rajendra Prasad, Zakir Hussain and V V Giri who had been conferred the coveted award.
Mukherjee became India's youngest finance minister in 1982 at the age of 47. From 2004, he went on to head three crucial ministries - External Affairs, Defence and Finance - and became the first occupant of the Rashtrapati Bhavan to have this distinction. Last year, Mukherjee had drawn flak from certain quarters for attending an RSS function in Nagpur.
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Deshmukh was associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since 1928 till his death in Satna, Madhya Pradesh in 2010 at the age of 94. He was known for starting the chain of RSS inspired schools throughout India. He was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh which later evolved as the Bharatiya Janta Party.
He was considered to be one of the architects of the Jai Prakash Narain movement against Emergency in 1974 and among the key persons in the formation of the Janata Party government in 1977. Born in 1926, Hazarika was a playback singer, lyricist, musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam. A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1987), Padmashri (1977), Padmabhushan (2001) and Padma Vibhushan (2012-posthumously), Hazarika was also awarded with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1992. Hazarika did his Phd from Columbia University in 1952. He died in 2011.
The cultural icon also had a brush with politics and had unsuccessfully contested the Guwahati Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket in 2004. He was an independent MLA in Assam during 1967-72. Hazarika gave music in Bollywood movies Rudaali, Darmiyaan, Gaja Gamini, Daman and many Assamese hits, including award winning film Sameli Memsaab. With Friday's announcement, the number of people who have received the Bharat Ratna so far has gone up to 48.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Pranab Mukherjee was the 13th president of India from 2012 to 2017.
- Pranab Mukherjee became India's youngest finance minister in 1982.
- The Bharat Ratna will be conferred after a gap of four years.
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