The government on Friday night sprang a surprise picking former President Pranab Mukherjee, a Congressman all his life, for the Bharat Ratna, country's highest civilan honour, along with Nanaji Deshmukh, one of the founders of BJP, and eminent Assamese poet and musician Bhupen Hazarika, choices that were perceived to be made with an eye on the coming Lok Sabha elections.
"The President has been pleased to award Bharat Ratna to the following: Shri Nanaji Deshmukh (posthumously), Dr Bhupen Hazarika (posthumously) and Shri Pranab Mukherjee," a Rashtrapati Bhawan press communique said.
Congratulations to all those who have been conferred the Padma Awards.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 25, 2019
India is proud of each and every awardee, for the rich contributions towards various fields.
They have made our nation and the world a better place! https://t.co/4HNmvoXYyU
The last time the highest civilian honour was conferred was on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya (posthumously) in 2015, the Rasahtrapati Bhawan said in a press communique on the eve of 70th Republic Day.
So far 45 eminent personalities have been conferred with the Bharat Ratna and the total goes up to 48 with Friday's announcement.
Senior advocate HS Phoolka on being awarded Padma Shri: I'm grateful to the President & Govt of India. I had no idea about this. This award is recognition of the work for all those people who are working for justice, for the downtrodden, & to uphold the rule of law in the nation pic.twitter.com/4PWNKSB3d3
— ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2019
The surprise pick among the three was Mukherjee, who demitted office of President in 2017, and had a good equation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the two-and-a-half years he was at the helm in Rashtrapati Bhawan during NDA government. His selection was hailed by various leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
Rajeshwar Acharya on being awarded Padma Shri: Personally I don't consider this award as mine, this award is for Bhole baba and Baba Gorakhnath. I consider this as a franchisee of respect given to me by the nation, now it is my duty to pay respect to others. (25-1-19) #Varanasi pic.twitter.com/WzHDGxbdiV
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 25, 2019
The government also released 112 names for the Padma awards including industry veteran A.M. Naik of L&T group, President of Djibouti Ismail Guelleh, who extended support for rescusing Indians from war hit Yemen, folk singer Teejan Bai and Marathi theatre legend B.M. Purandare for the second highest civilan honour Padma Vibhushan.
In all, there were four Padma Vibhushan, 14 Padma Bhushans and 94 Padma Shri.
Here is The Full List of #PadmaAwards pic.twitter.com/vuKNF9xQq2
— Dheeraj Babu ✍ (@DheerajBabuP) January 25, 2019
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Kariya Munda, Malyalam actor Mohan Lal, late journalist Kuldeep Nayyar, S Nambi Naraynan, the space scientist who was jailed on trumped up espionage charges, mountainerring personality Bechandri Pal, former CAG V.K. Shunglu and BJP MP Hukum Dev Narayan Yadav for Padma Bhushan awardees.
Germany's Friderike Irina known as Sudevi Mataji conferred with #PadmaShri. She is taking care of abandoned cows in Madura #PadmaAwards pic.twitter.com/hlYMQ8P9Ve
— Suchi Soundlover (@suchiseetharam) January 25, 2019
The choice of Mukherjee, who hails from West Bengal, and the late Hazarika, an eminent son of Assam, is in tune with the BJP's mission of cornering a good chunk of seats in the East and the northeastern parts of the country where the Citizenship Amendment Bill has created problems for the BJP. Mukherjee's choice also indicates that he could still play a political role after the Lok Sabha elections in case of a hung Parliament.
Mukherjee (84), who reached new heights in political career as a Congressman, had also stirred a controversy last year when he attended an RSS event at its Nagpur headquarters.
It’s an honour I accept with gratitude. But it’s an honour which also comes with responsibility. I’m living for the day when Gautam Gambhir the human being beats Gautam Gambhir the cricketer. That will be my day, my award to myself. #PadmaAwards2019
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) January 25, 2019
Hazarika who died in 2011 at the age of 85 years, was a poet, playback singer, lyricist and filmmaker all rolled into one, and his works were marked by humanity and universal brotherhood. He had introduced culture and folk music of Assam into Hindi cinema at the national level.
The third choice of Bharat Ratna for this year, Nanaji Deshmukh, was an RSS pracharak who rose to become in-charge of Uttar Pradesh in the sixties, and was later one of the architects of the BJP in the 1980s.
70 year old farmer Shri. Daitari Naik of Keonjhar district in Odisha created a 3 km canal through a mountain with a hoe and a crowbar. His exemplary contribution gets recognised as he is to be conferred with a Padma Shri 🙏🏼 #PadmaAwards pic.twitter.com/4l7p8sV5cM
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) January 25, 2019
Deshmukh had founded the Deendayal Research Institute (DRI) in 1972 to validate the philosophy of Integral Humanism propounded by Deendayal Upadhyaya and after retirement from active politics, he initiated the Chitrakoot Project, a campaign for self-reliance. He died in 2010 at the age of 94.
In the Padma Shri category, Sikh riot activist H.S. Phoolka, former Akali Dal minister S.S. Dhinsha, author Gita Mehta, who is also the sister of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, former Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, actors Manoj Bajpayee, Prabhu Deva, late Kader Khan, singer Shankar Mahadevan, cricketer Gautam Gambhir, football player Sunil Chetri, eminent surgeon Sandeep Guleria have been picked.
Most happy with a Padma Award for Nambi Narayan. After such humiliation and ignominy heaped on him in the fraudulant ISRO spying case and the SC awarding him compensation last year --- the government does justice to him and his reputation
— Aman Sharma (@AmanKayamHai_ET) January 25, 2019
In all 94 personalities were picked in the Padma Shri category, that also included wrestler Bajrang Punia, archery expert B.D. Laishram and spiritual personality Bangaru Adigalar of Tamil Nadu.
HS Phoolka, Gautam Gambhir, Prabhu Deva among 112 Padma awardees
Former AAP MLA and senior advocate HS Phoolka and former cricketer Gautam Gambhir were among 112 persons conferred the Padma awards by the government of India on Friday, the eve of the 70th Republic Day.
The list includes 4 Padma Vibhushans, 14 Padma Bhushans and 94 Padma Shris. 21 awardees are women and 11 are persons with foreign connections — foreign dignitaries, Non resident Indians, Persons of Indian Origin or Overseas Citizen of India.
Three persons have been awarded posthumously while the list includes one transgender person.
Folk artist Teejan Bai, Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh, L&T chairman Anilkumar Manibhai Naik and writer Balwant Moreshwar Purandare are to be conferred with Padma Vibhushan by the President.
I am thankful to @rashtrapatibhvn President of India & GOI for conferring Padma Shri award on me.
— H S Phoolka (@hsphoolka) January 25, 2019
This award is recognition of the fight for justice and would encourage all those activists who are working for justice to the downtrodden, that one day your work will be recognised. https://t.co/tY7htUmSjy
ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, former Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Kariya Munda, actor Mohanlal, journalist Kuldeep Nayyar (posthumous), mountaineer Bachendri Pal and Lok Sabha MP Hukmdev Narayan Yadav are among the 14 Padma Bhusan awardees.
Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Dhindsa, Pravin Gordhan (South Africa), MDH owner Mahashay Dharam Pal Gulati and ex-bureaucrat and former CAG, V K Shunglu are others in the list.
Senior advocate HS Phoolka, former Indian foreign secretary Dr S Jaishankar, late actor Kader Khan (foreigner), former cricketer Gautam Gambhir, footballer Sunil Chhetri, actor Manoj Bajpayee, and freestyle wrestler Bajrang Punia are among those who will be conferred the Padma Shri awards.
Expressing his gratitude to the President and the government, Phoolka said the award is recognition of the fight for justice and would encourage all those activists who are working for justice to the downtrodden, that one day your work will be recognised.
Film choreographer/director Prabhu Deva, singer Shankar Mahadevan, drummer A Sivamani, IISc professor Rohini Godbole, Kabaddi player Ajay Thakur, table tennis player Sharath Kamal, and basketball player Prashanti Singh will also be conferred with Padma Shri.
