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Amit Shah lauds PM Modi for awarding Bharat Ratna to Karpoori Thakur
Former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur is the 49th recipient of the country's highest civilian award.
Union minister Amit Shah on Wednesday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for honouring former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur with a Bharat Ratna posthumously.
Addressing the birth centenary celebration of Karpoori Thakur in the capital, Shah said that the BJP-led Central government's decision to confer the Bharat Ratna to Thakur is an honour to crores of poor people belonging to the backward and Dalit communities.
He also said that the move highlights the Modi government's strong push for the development of the OBCs.
“Many people came but no one even thought of adorning him with Bharat Ratna. Many people made the demand but the people who made this demand forgot about it when they came to power,” Shah said. “It took Narendra Modi Ji a leader from a poor family like Karpoori Thakur Ji to become prime minister to honour him with the Bharat Ratna.”
Shah said that with the decision, the prime minister revived the hope of winning the Bharat Ratna among the youths, who wish to serve the nation as Thakur did.
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Lauding the socialist leader, Shah said that Thakur throughout his life remained engaged entirely in the welfare of the poor and the backward class.
“He did this a century back and we can imagine the society, the rural life in Bihar and the caste system of that period. I would not have been surprised had it been done by an affluent person. But this was done by Karpoori Thakur Ji who was the son of a barber. He decided to live a life of principles which showed his belief in his principles,” Shah said.
Reflecting upon the Modi government's tenure at the Centre, Shah said that when we look back we see that the Prime Minister Minister has followed the Thakur's principles in his life.
“In the last 10 years 23 crore people have been lifted from poverty, more than 4 crore people without homes have been given homes, more than 3 crore families have been given electricity connection, more than 10 crore people who were cooking food in firewood stoves were given gas cylinders. As many as 14 crore people did not get piped drinking water supply they have been given water connection, as many as 80 crore people have been given free food grains,60 crore poor have been given free medical care up to Rs.5 lakhs and 13 crore people have been given toilets after 70 years of independence. These schemes show the commitment of the Modi government to the welfare of the poor,” he said.
Also Read | Simplicity, social justice pillars of Karpoori Thakur's life, says PM Modi
Thakur was chief minister of Bihar for two terms — first for about six months in 1970 as the leader of the Socialist Party, and then again for just short of two years between June 1977 and April 1979 as head of the Janata Party government.
Affectionately known as 'Jan Nayak' (people's leader), Thakur is the 49th recipient of the country's highest civilian award. The Bharat Ratna was last conferred to the late president Pranab Mukherjee in 2019.
