Guwahati: President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday announced that former Bihar Chief Minister and socialist leader Karpoori Thakur will be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award.
“The President has been pleased to award Bharat Ratna to Shri Karpoori Thakur (posthumously),” a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X that “this prestigious recognition is a testament to his enduring efforts as a champion for the marginalised and a stalwart of equality and justice”.
The late socialist leader was the son of a marginal farmer from the Nai (barber) community.
He went on to serve twice as Chief Minister of Bihar — first between December 1970 and June 1971 as part of the Bharatiya Kranti Dal and later between December 1977 and April 1979 from the Janata Party.
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Named Jannayak, or People’s Leader, Thakur was a freedom fighter, incarcerated during the Quit India movement in 1942, and has been seen as the architect of much of the social justice plank in Indian politics.
Thakur was part of the anti-emergency movement, along with another great socialist leader, Jayaprakash Narayan.
During his Chief Ministership in 1977, the Mungeri Lal Commission submitted its report recommending that backward classes be reclassified as extremely backward classes (including weaker sections of Muslims) and backward classes.
The report was implemented in 1978. This paved the way for 26 per cent reservation for them in the government services in Bihar in November 1978.