BBC Online :
The former Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has been honoured with the country’s highest civilian award.
Authorities announced the Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India) for the senior
politician from PM Narendra Modi’s BJP party a day before he turns 90.
A charismatic leader and a master orator, Vajpayee retired from active politics in 2005.
Educationist and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malaviya has been given the award posthumously.
He is best known for setting up the Benaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi in 1916. He died in 1946.
So far, 43 people have been given the Bharat Ratna, including cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, musician Ravi Shankar, singer MS Subbalakshmi, filmmaker Satyajit Ray, South African leader Nelson Mandela and a pioneer of India’s missile technology and former president APJ Abdul Kalam.
“President Pranab Mukherjee has been pleased to award Bharat Ratna to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (posthumously) and to Atal Behari Vajpayee,” according to a statement from the Rashtrapati Bhawan (presidential palace) on Wednesday morning.
Vajpayee, often described as the “moderate face” of his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), enjoyed a wider appeal than his more hardline party colleagues.
The former Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has been honoured with the country’s highest civilian award.
Authorities announced the Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India) for the senior
politician from PM Narendra Modi’s BJP party a day before he turns 90.
A charismatic leader and a master orator, Vajpayee retired from active politics in 2005.
Educationist and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malaviya has been given the award posthumously.
He is best known for setting up the Benaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi in 1916. He died in 1946.
So far, 43 people have been given the Bharat Ratna, including cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, musician Ravi Shankar, singer MS Subbalakshmi, filmmaker Satyajit Ray, South African leader Nelson Mandela and a pioneer of India’s missile technology and former president APJ Abdul Kalam.
“President Pranab Mukherjee has been pleased to award Bharat Ratna to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (posthumously) and to Atal Behari Vajpayee,” according to a statement from the Rashtrapati Bhawan (presidential palace) on Wednesday morning.
Vajpayee, often described as the “moderate face” of his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), enjoyed a wider appeal than his more hardline party colleagues.
