Shortly after Narendra Modi became PM in 2014, Atal Behari Vajpayee was decorated with the Bharat Ratna, while Advani and M M Joshi were honoured with the lower order — Padma Vibhushan. Although Advani was originally Modi’s mentor, their friendship soured after 2013, when, in the run up to the 2014 general elections. Advani had to per force give up his PM ambitions to make way to youthful and more popular Modi. Once the Advani award announcement was made,, PM realized it could make use of the awards to win over farmers and voters in Andhra by adding P V Narasimha Rao, Chaudhary Charan Singh and M S Swaminathan to the exclusive Bharat Ratna club.
January 5 was the 90th birthday of Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi. The veteran politician was felicitated by PM Modi and other senior leaders of the BJP. He also was expecting Bharat Ratna, but PM did not name him this time.
Some days before the birth anniversary, few journalists had two surprise visitors; Dr. Joshi’s talented daughters. Priyamavada and Nivedita. They came to journalists to seek advice on arranging a celebration for their father’s birth anniversary. (IPA Service)
L K ADVANI WAS TAKEN BY SURPRISE AFTER HEARING BHARAT RATNA ANNOUNCEMENT
HIS FAMILY WAS INFORMED ONLY AFTER PRIME MINISTER’S TWEET
Harihar Swarup - 2024-02-14 12:10
Civilian Honours such as Padma awards and Bharat Ratna are usually declared prior to January 26, even though the award ceremony is held later. However, the announcement that veteran BJP leader L K Advani was to be honoured with the nation’s highest civilian award was made on February 3, a week after Republic day. The Advani family was taken by surprise when PM Modi first tweeted the news and followed up by a telephone call to his residence. The belated announcement was reportedly due to pressure from Sangh Parivar veterans, that to ignore the man who initiated the yatra for restoration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya while honouring Opposition leaders like Karpoori Thakur and Pranab Mukherjee (in 2019) seemed incongruous.