'Bharat Ratna award to Karpoori Thakur is welcome': Rahul Gandhi

Two-time Bihar chief minister Thakur has been named for the country’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna posthumously. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi expressed his support for a caste census, asserting that it would be a genuine tribute to the late Karpoori Thakur.

“I pay respectful tribute to Jannayak Karpoori Thakur ji, an incomparable warrior of social justice, on his birth centenary. He is certainly a precious gem of India and the decision to award him Bharat Ratna posthumously is welcome,” Gandhi said in a post in on X.

Gandhi criticized the BJP government for withholding the results of the 2011 social and economic caste census and showing apathy towards a nationwide census. Karpoori Thakur, fondly known as 'Jan Nayak' (people’s leader), is commemorated on his birth anniversary. Born in 1924 and passing away in 1988, Thakur made history as the first non-Congress socialist leader to become the chief minister twice, initially for seven months in December 1970 and later for two years in 1977. Thakur is the 49th recipient of Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, with the last conferral occurring on the late President Pranab Mukherjee in 2019.