Telangana Assembly Passes Resolution Urging Bharat Ratna for Manmohan Singh
Hyderabad, 1st January 2025: Following the Telangana Assembly’s passing of a resolution urging the Centre to award the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, calls for conferring the award on him have intensified within the Congress party.
Pramod Tiwari, Congress Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha, expressed support for the Telangana resolution, urging the Centre to approve it. “Manmohanji was a distinguished leader, and he deserves the Bharat Ratna,” he stated.
Congress spokesperson Subharansh Kumar Rai also backed the resolution, highlighting Singh’s contributions to vital initiatives like the Right to Education, Right to Information, and MNREGA. “He deserves the highest national honour,” he said.
In addition to the resolution, both the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and opposition BJP in Telangana briefly united in a special session to agree on erecting a statue of Singh at a prominent location in Hyderabad in his honour.
This resolution follows BJP allegations that Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had not acted on a 2013 recommendation by former President Pranab Mukherjee to confer the Bharat Ratna on Singh. BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla criticized the Telangana government’s resolution, asking why the earlier proposal wasn’t pursued properly. He suggested that the Gandhi family was insecure about honouring a non-Nehru-Gandhi Prime Minister.
A BJP leader, speaking anonymously, claimed that Congress’s push for Singh’s Bharat Ratna was aimed at securing Sikh votes, though they believed the move would have no political effect, as the Centre had already agreed to set up a memorial for Singh.
Singh passed away last week at 92 and was cremated with full state honours at Nigam Bodh Ghat on Saturday, with numerous dignitaries in attendance.
Rai dismissed the BJP’s claims regarding the 2013 Bharat Ratna proposal as false and challenged the party to provide evidence to back their allegation.
While Congress leaders acknowledged the right of state legislatures to pass such resolutions, some emphasized that the central leadership had not instructed any state to take such action. “We welcome it if states are doing it, but we haven’t directed them,” said a senior Congress leader.
Meanwhile, the political exchange between Congress and BJP over Singh’s funeral and memorial continued. The BJP criticized Rahul Gandhi for travelling abroad during the mourning period, accusing him of neglecting his duties. Congress Whip in the Lok Sabha, Manickam Tagore, dismissed these remarks, calling them a diversionary tactic. “The BJP’s focus should be on Modi’s denial of space for Singh’s cremation by the Yamuna and the treatment of his family,” Tagore said, defending Gandhi’s private travel. Tiwari later remarked that Gandhi’s visit was planned, noting that “millions saw his tears” after Singh’s death.
