Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Friday said that she welcomes the announcement of Bharat Ratna to agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan as well as former prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh.
“I welcome them. Why not,” she told reporters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced that former prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh as well as Swaminathan will be honoured with the Bharat Ratna.
“Swaminathan made monumental contributions to country in agriculture and farmers’ welfare,” Modi said, adding that the late scientist played a pivotal role in helping India achieve self-reliance in agriculture and made outstanding efforts in modernising it.
Congress hails Bharat Ratna to national icons
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that his party applauds the vision, hardwork and the exceptional legacies of the three national icons, who have been conferred the Bharat Ratna by the NDA government.
“On the behalf of Indian National Congress, we welcome the Bharat Ratna being conferred to Shri P V Narasimha Rao, Chaudhary Charan Singh and Dr M S Swaminathan,” Kharge said.
The Congress president said that that former Prime Minister and ex-Congress President, P V Narasimha Rao has tremendously contributed to nation-building and iunder his government, India embarked on a transformative journey with a series of economic reforms that played a pivotal role in shaping the middle class for generations to come.
Reflecting on his contributions, Kharge said that the former PM was instrumental in India’s Nuclear programme and a number of foreign policy achievements, including the ‘Look East’ policy.
On former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, Kharge said, he is known for his pro-farmer policies.
“A son of the soil, his interventions helped strengthen rural India,” he said.
Legendary scientist, Dr Swaminathan is known for his unmatched contribution to the field of agricultural science and his intervention in making India self-sufficient in food grains through the Green Revolution, is a milestone in nation building, he said.
“An institution builder par excellence, above all a humanitarian, he is also known as “the Father of Economic Ecology”, a richely deserved pseudonym,” Kharge said in the post.