Former Chief Minister of Bihar Karpoori Thakur was awarded the nation’s highest honour, Bharat Ratna, posthumously by the President of India Droupadi Murmu this evening. The award comes 35 years after his death — Karpoori Thakur died on February 17, 1988.
Dubbed Jan Nayak by many in the state, Karpoori Thakur served as the Chief Minister of Bihar for a short while — from December 1970 to June 1971 and from December 1977 to April 1979.
The Centre’s recognition for the state’s first non-Congress Chief Minister meets a long-standing demand of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal United.
Coming ahead of the general election, it is seen a move to please the Chief Minister of a state that has 40 parliamentary seats.
