The Central Government has decided to give Bharat Ratna to Karpoori Thakur, former Chief Minister of Bihar and pioneer of social justice politics.
This announcement was made on Tuesday evening and today is his birth centenary. On this occasion, PM Narendra Modi has once again remembered Jannayak.
He said that I myself am a backward class person and can understand their contribution. Karpoori Thakur’s social justice politics had improved the lives of crores of people of the country.
He wrote that I never got the opportunity to meet Karpoori Thakur, but got to hear a lot about him from Kailashpati Mishra ji. He had worked with Karpuri ji.
PM Narendra Modi said in an article, ‘Karpoori Thakur, who came from a very backward community, had achieved achievements by overcoming all the obstacles.’
PM Narendra Modi wrote, ‘Karpoori Thakur ji’s life was based on simplicity and social justice. He lived with utmost simplicity till the last moments of his life.
Everyone had access to him and even after attaining a position like Chief Minister, he always remained in touch with the people. People associated with him know how he could not use government money for his personal expenses.
Remembering Karpoori Thakur, the Prime Minister wrote, ‘When Karpoori Thakur was the CM in Bihar, it was decided to build a colony for the leaders.
But he himself never took any house or money for himself. When he passed away in 1988, the eyes of the people who came to bid him farewell were filled with tears.
People were sad to see how a leader of such stature lived so simply and what was the condition of his house. In his article, PM Narendra Modi also mentioned the incident of Karpoori Thakur’s torn kurta.
Donation collected for kurta and given to CM Relief Fund
He writes, ‘In 1977 he became the CM of Bihar. At that time, there was Janata Dal government both at the Center and in Bihar. At that time, all the leaders were gathered in Patna on the birthday of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan.
When Chandrashekhar saw the torn kurta of Karpoori Thakur, who had reached that gathering, he in his own style appealed to the people to donate for him so that he could buy a good kurta. Karpoori ji accepted the donation, but as per his habit, deposited it in the CM Relief Fund.
‘It is sad that Congress had opposed the OBC Commission’
Remembering Karpoori Thakur, PM Modi also enumerated the works of his government for the OBC category. He said that following the footsteps of Karpoori Thakur ji, we have brought 25 crore people above the poverty line.
Apart from this, they are also ready for the welfare of OBCs through Mudra and Vishwakarma Yojana. Not only this, PM Modi also targeted Congress while mentioning the formation of OBC Commission.
He said that when we moved towards OBC Commission following the footsteps of Karpoori ji, Congress opposed it. Sadly, Karpoori ji left us at the age of just 64, when we needed him the most.