NEW DELHI: Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday announced the conferring of the nation’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, on veteran socialist and former chief minister Karpoori Thakur posthumously. The award was last conferred on late president Pranab Mukherjee in 2019.
Tuesday’s announcement came on the eve of Thakur’s birth centenary. It is expected to resonate with Bihar’s OBCs, who constitute 27.12% of the population, as per the caste survey done by the state a few months ago.
Widely hailed as a Jan Nayak (people’s hero), Thakur served as chief minister of Bihar from December 1970 to June 1971 and from December 1977 to April 1979. He passed away on February 17, 1988. His son Ram Nath Thakur is now with the JD(U) and is a member of the Rajya Sabha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Thakur as a beacon of social justice and a great Jan Nayak in a post on ‘X’. “I am delighted that the government of India has decided to confer the Bharat Ratna on the beacon of social justice, the great Jan Nayak Karpoori Thakur ji and that too at a time when we are marking his birth centenary. This prestigious recognition is a testament to his enduring efforts as a champion for the marginalised and a stalwart of equality and empowerment,” Modi said.
It was during Thakur’s tenure as chief minister that the recommendations of the Mungeri Lal Commission on quotas for backward classes were introduced in the state. The Mungeri Lal panel was a forerunner of the Mandal Commission.
