Pranab Mukherjee, Bhupen Hazarika, Nanaji Deshmukh awarded Bharat Ratna

At the fag end of its tenure in 2014, the Congress-led UPA had conferred the Bharat Ratna on scientist C N R Rao and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar

On the eve of the Republic Day, the Rashtrapati Bhavan announced conferring the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, on Bhupen Hazarika and Nanaji Deshmukh, both posthumously, and also on former president Pranab Mukherjee.
 
This is the second instance of the Narendra Modi government conferring the award during its tenure. It conferred the award on freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malviya and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2015.
 
The announcement of the awards came close to the LS polls. The BJP has been planning to consolidate its gains in Assam, and improve its performance significantly in