Homework: Modi Govt. Has Raised Bharat Ratna, Padma Awards Above Politics; Mandal to Kamandal, Left & Cong

Padma Vibhushan to Mulayam Singh and Sharad Pawar, as well as to Kalyan Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi, and Tarun Gogoi; Bharat Ratna to LK Advani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Karpoori Thakur, and Pranab Mukherjee; and Padma Bhushan to Left’s Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, which he graciously declined to accept.

This has been a defining characteristic of the Narendra Modi administration, which since 2015 has dissolved political boundaries in order to award the nation’s highest civilian honors to those who have shown exceptional performance in the field of “public service.” Petty politics have given way to merit, as seen by the Modi government’s willingness to confront its opponents and go where the Congress decided not to fear.

Politicians who oppose the BJP and the Narendra Modi government in particular, such as those from the Congress, regional parties like the Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), socialists, and even the Left, have been selected for these awards over the past nine years.

Over the last two weeks, the administration has extended its reach to both the Mandal and Kamandal political schools of thought by announcing Bharat Ratna for socialist Karpoori Thakur and Hindutva politician LK Advani. Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad have been calling for Thakur to be awarded the Bharat Ratna since 2007, but the Congress has refused to recognize him.

A year after bestowing the Padma Vibhushan to Kalyan Singh upon his death, the government declared Mulayam Singh’s posthumous recipient in 2023. Both Yadav and Singh belonged to opposing political camps within the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. at 1990, Yadav ordered the fire of Kar Sevaks at Ayodhya while serving as chief minister, and in 1992, Kalyan Singh ordered the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

During their lives, Yadav and Singh did not get any Padma awards from previous administrations.

The news of Sharad Pawar’s 2017 Padma Vibhushan and Congress leader Tarun Gogoi’s posthumous Padma Bhushan in 2021 came as a huge surprise. These were leaders who did not support the BJP at all. The Congress never bestowed any Padma awards to Pawar.

The Congress was taken aback when senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad received a Padma Bhushan in 2022 and Pranab Mukherjee received a Bharat Ratna in 2019. These were prominent Congressmen, and the Gandhis’ two absences from the Award ceremony on these occasions demonstrated how different their stance was from that of the Modi administration.

This administration has also bestowed high Padma awards to notable regional figures including Prakash Singh Badal, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, and Ram Vilas Paswan. In 2020, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig received a Padma Bhushan, despite the acrimonious breakup of their coalition in J&K earlier by the BJP and PDP.

In the process, the Modi administration hasn’t failed to award its brilliant talents, such as M Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley, George Fernandes, Sushma Swaraj, and Murli Manohar Joshi, with Padmas.

The Modi administration has really elevated the Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards beyond politics, surpassing the likes of Mandal, Kamandal, the Congress, and even the Left.