Ahead of the 71 Republic Day celebrations, the government announced the names of Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri awardees on Saturday, along with medals for police officers.
The Padma Vibhushan has been awarded to seven prominent personalities while 16 were conferred the Padma Bhushan and 118 have been given the Padma Shri. In a quintessential Modi-Esque, the Awards have been awarded to the distinguished commoners for their extraordinary work in their respective fields.
One of the distinguished police officer who has been honoured with President’s Police Medal is CBI Deputy SP Ramaswamy Parthasarathy, who arrested Chidambaram in the INX Media case last year. Parthasarathy had climbed the walls of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s house to arrest him.
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An officer is known for his cool manner but strict attitude, Parthasarthy had arrested Chidambaram’s son Karthi Chidambaram too in the case. 21 officers of CBI have been awarded the Police Medals for Meritorious Service this year.
The Narendra Modi government has also honoured British MP Barry Gardiner with Padma Shri award. Labour MP Barry Gardiner is considered to be a true friend of the country and has stood in support of India despite Labour Party in the UK have taken an anti-India stand.
It is notable here that Barry Gardiner is the same MP who had taken left-wing NDTV news anchor Nidhi Razdan to task when she had asked him a blatant politically motivated question exposing her and NDTV’s inherent bias against the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in 2013.
Gardiner had in 2013 invited the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi to address the UK house of commons. Nidhi had questioned him, “But you know he is also an extremely controversial figure here in India, and around the world. There has been so much controversy over him even in the UK, where there was a boycott of him in a sense until last year. He’s still not been given a visa to the United States. He is a controversial figure. You realise this would create controversy.”
To this Gardiner had slammed Nidhi’s biased views and had called out her questionable journalistic behaviour. He had even asked her why she is ignoring the Supreme Court verdict and the fact that Modi has been re-elected by the people of Gujarat again and again.
Another British MP to be awarded Padma Shri is Conservative Party’s Bob Blackman. Known as the ‘Friend of India’, he is a strong supporter of India in the Kashmir issue, and also talks frequently about the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus. He often exposes Pakistan sponsored terror, and had congratulated PM Narendra Modi for abrogating the article 370.
The Padma awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day and the awards conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/April every year.
Among the awardees are Jagdish Lal Ahuja, Javed Ahmad Tak, Satyanayana Mundayoor, S Ramakrishna and Yogi Aeron, who have been awarded for their extraordinary work in the field of social work. Mohammed Sharif from UP, a bicycle mechanic who has been performing the last rites of thousands of unclaimed dead bodies for the last 25 years, has been named for Padma Shri award.
Jagdish Lal Ahuja, affectionately called as ‘Langar Baba’, is being awarded for “selflessly organising langars for 500 plus poor patients daily for over two decades”. He also helps patients with financial aid and provides blankets and clothes to them.
Another commoner, Javed Ahmad Tak, who hails from Anantnag in Kashmir and is wheel-chair ridden, has been selflessly helping specially-abled children for two decades for their integration and assimilation in mainstream life.
Bollywood celebrities-Karan Johar, Ekta Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut have also been included in the list of Padma Shri award recipients. Pakistani origin singer Adnan Sami, who has taken Indian citizenship, is also named for Padma Shri.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Padma awardees, saying they include extraordinary people. “The awardees include extraordinary individuals who have made exceptional contributions to our society, nation and humanity,” he tweeted.