In New Delhi, President Droupadi Murmu, on Saturday, March, bestowed Bharat Ratna, the nation’s preeminent civilian accolade, upon former Prime Ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh, agricultural luminary M S Swaminathan, and twice-serving former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur, posthumously, during a ceremony conducted at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
The posthumous Bharat Ratna awards for the late Narasimha Rao, Singh, Thakur, and Swaminathan were accepted by their respective descendants. P V Prabhakar Rao, the son of the former Prime Minister Rao, was presented with the honor bestowed upon his father by the president. Jayant Chaudhary, the grandson of Singh and the president of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), received the commendation from Murmu.
Swaminathan’s daughter, Nitya Rao, and Thakur’s son, Ram Nath Thakur, were granted the award by the president. The ceremony was attended by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President JP Nadda, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, and other distinguished guests.
The government had declared five Bharat Ratna awards this year, which included one for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart and former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.
While President Droupadi Murmu presented four Bharat Ratna awards at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Bharat Ratna award for the veteran BJP leader LK Advani will be conferred upon him at his residence.
Before the ceremony to bestow the Bharat Ratna awards for this year, the Rashtrapati Bhavan announced on Friday that there would be no alteration in the changing of the guard ceremony, a military tradition held weekly at the Rashtrapati Bhavan to facilitate a new contingent of the President’s Bodyguards to assume duty.
