BSP chief Mayawati on Friday welcomed the conferment of Bharat Ratna posthumously on former prime ministers Chaudhary Charan Singh and P V Narasimha Rao along with eminent scientist M S Swaminathan. She, however, questioned why her party founder and Dalit leader Kanshi Ram was not honoured.
In a statement, she rued that it is inappropriate to disrespect and ignore Dalit personalities for the recognition.
“All the personalities who have been honoured with Bharat Ratna by the present BJP government are welcome, but it is not at all appropriate to disrespect and ignore Dalit icons. The government should definitely pay attention to them too,” she said.
“Baba Saheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar was honoured with Bharat Ratna by the government of V P Singh after a long wait. But the struggle done by Kanshi Ram, the messiah of the Dalits, has been neglected. Kanshi Ram should also be honored with Bharat Ratna,” she added.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav also welcomed the announcement.
“The award of Bharat Ratna given to farmers’ well-wisher and former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh ji, Narasimha Rao ji and the father of Green Revolution Dr M S Swaminathan ji, is the fulfillment of a long-pending demand.
“True respect comes from respecting the principles and struggles of any person, I hope this happens,” he said in a social media post.
RLD chief Jayant Choudhary said the conferment of the country’s highest civilian recognition on his grandfather Choudhury Charan Singh has “won hearts of people of the country”. His comments come amid widespread speculation that his party is set to ditch the INDIA bloc and join forces with the NDA. Political pundits say the award could be the first step towards the new alliance.
The Centre had recently conferred the Bharat Ratna on BJP veteran L K Advani and former Bihar chief minister and socialist Karpoori Thakur.