- No Bharat Ratna was awarded on the 77th Republic Day in India
- Padma Vibhushan was awarded to five people including Dharmendra and VS Achuthanandan
- Kerala received three Padma Vibhushan awards amid upcoming assembly elections
The Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, was not awarded to any individual this year on the eve of the 77th Republic Day.
The second-highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan, was awarded to five people including actor Dharmendra and former Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan, posthumously.
Three of the five people who were awarded the Padma Vibhushan were from Kerala. This southern state will see assembly elections this year.
The Padma Awards have also been bestowed upon other states, coincidentally those that will see elections: 13 from Tamil Nadu, 11 from West Bengal, 8 from Kerala, and 5 from Assam.
Maharashtra received the most awards, with 15; Tamil Nadu is in the second place. West Bengal is tied for fourth with Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala is tied for fifth with Karnataka.
Kerala's Achuthanandan was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan. He was a staunch ideological opponent of the RSS and the BJP. However, it is to be taken into account that the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has honoured many staunch ideological opponents before.
This time, Kerala's ruling Left Front is facing competition from the Congress-led UDF, while the BJP is consolidating its position as a third force. Awarding the Padma Vibhushan to a veteran CPM leader may appeal to voters seeking an alternative.
The political implications of the manner in which PM Modi, who visited Kerala on Friday, waited on the stage for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at a government function in Thiruvananthapuram and respectfully received him are being explored.
Journalist P Narayanan, who was editor of the RSS newspaper Janmabhoomi, has been awarded the Padma Vibhushan. Former Supreme Court judge KT Thomas from Kerala also received the Padma Vibhushan. He was a member of the bench that sentenced the culprits of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and took several important steps towards judicial accountability. Actor Mammootty and social activist V Natesan from Kerala have been awarded the Padma Bhushan.
Five other eminent personalities from Kerala who were awarded the Padma Shri are: AE Muthunyangam for science and engineering, Armida Fernandes for medicine, K Vimala Menon for art, and K Devaki Amma for social work.
Eleven personalities from West Bengal received the Padma Shri. They are Ashok Kumar Haldar for literature and education, Gambhir Singh Yonjon for literature and education, Hari Madhab Mukhopadhyay (posthumously) for art, Jyotish Debnath for art, Kumar Bose for art, Mahendra Nath Roy for literature and education, Prosenjit Chatterjee for art, Rabi Lal Tudu for literature and education, Saroj Mandal for medicine, Tarun Bhattacharya for art, and Tripti Mukherjee for art.
Two Padma Bhushan and 11 Padma Shri Awards were given to individuals in Tamil Nadu. Kallipatti Ramasamy Palaniswami was awarded the Padma Bhushan for Medicine, and SKM Mailanandan for social work.
K Ramasamy was awarded the Padma Bhushan for science and engineering, K Vijay Kumar for civil services, HV Hande for medicine, Othuvar Tiruttani Swaminathan for arts, Kumaraswamy Thangaraj for science and engineering, R Krishnan (posthumously) for arts, Rajasthapathi Kaliappa Gounder for arts, Punniyamurthy Natesan for medicine, and Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam for arts.
TT Jagannathan (posthumously) for commerce and industry, and Vezhinathan Kamakoti for science and engineering were awarded the Padma Shri.
Among those honoured from the poll-bound state of Assam is veteran BJP leader Kavindra Purkayastha, who recently died. Haricharan Saikia was awarded the Padma Shri for arts, Jogesh Deuri for agriculture; Nuruddin Ahmed and Pokhila Lekhthepi for arts, and Kabindra Purkayastha (posthumously) for public service.
