BENGALURU: Former chief minister and senior BJP leader S M Krishna requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to recommend Dr Shivakumara Swami, pontiff of Siddaganga Mutt, Tumakuru, for the Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian award.
In a letter to Modi, Krishna stated the 111-year-old Swami has been serving society for the last eight decades, helping lakhs of needy people. “His holiness, with his profound knowledge in English, Kannada and Sanskrit literature, is also preaching against the practice of social evils, superstition and discrimination of all kinds.”
Krishna said lakhs of devotees of the seer see him as a “walking god” and it is their wish to see that the Centre honours him with the Bharat Ratna.