Bharat Ratna for Vajpayee and Malaviya

Former PM, freedom fighter to get India's highest civilian award

The government on Wednesday announced the prestigious Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, for former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malaviya.

“The President has been pleased to award Bharat Ratna to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (posthumously) and to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” a press communiqué from the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

The announcement comes a day before Vajpayee's 90th birthday. The central government is also celebrating December 25 as 'good governance day'.

Several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Murli Manohar Joshi and Hema Malini, had in the past demanded that Bharat Ratna be awarded to Vajpayee. The Shiv Sena, BJP’s ally in the National Democratic Alliance, and former ally Janata Dal (United) had also come out in support of conferring the awards on the former prime minister.

Senior BJP leader LK Advani had earlier told NDTV that Vajpayee has a "blemish-free record and deserves the Bharat Ratna."

 

When the previous government had last year announced Bharat Ratna for cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and scientist C N R Rao, BJP had criticised it for not honouring Vajpayee’s contribution.

Vajpayee had briefly served as the external affairs minister in India's first coalition government formed under the Janata umbrella in the wake of the Emergency.  He returned as prime minister in the first NDA government, which fell in 13 days. In the elections that followed, BJP and its allies successfully formed a majority government that lasted its full term with Vajpayee as its head. 

He ruled out contesting for a second term as prime minister, owing largely to health concerns. BJP, however, failed to retain power in the 2004 elections. 

Malaviya is a noted freedom fighter who was part of the Indian National Congress — he had two terms as the party's president, in 1909 and 1918 — before gradually moving to the right of the ideological spectrum as one of the founding figures of the Hindu Mahasabha. Also one of India's leading educationists of the time, he is credited with founding the famed Banaras Hindu University.

A Bharat Ratna for Malaviya, fondly referred to as ‘Mahamana’, was one of the promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.