Bharat Ratna for Karpoori Thakur: Who was two-time Bihar CM and socialist icon?

President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday announced that the Bharat Ratna would be awarded to socialist icon Karpoori Thakur, posthumously. This comes at a time when three-day celebrations are being held in Bihar to mark the birth centenary of the former Bihar CM.

Demands for a Bharat Ratna for Thakur have been made for years. Last year, on July 12, speaking at an event to mark the centenary of the Bihar Assembly building, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav demanded Bharat Ratna for Thakur, a two-time Chief Minister of the state and a towering socialist icon who is often invoked by the state’s politicians.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also attended the event, did not comment on the demand, he mentioned Karpoori along with other stalwarts from the state such as Jayaprakash Narain, the pioneer of the Bihar movement, and Srikrishna Sinha, the state’s first CM.

Tejashwi’s demand was not the first time that a contemporary Bihar leader demanded the highest civilian honour for Thakur, who is popularly referred to as Jannayak or people’s leader. In fact, the RJD and JD(U) had been making the appeal almost every year around the time of Thakur’s birth and death anniversaries.

Some of the schemes rolled out by CM Nitish Kumar bear the mark of Thakur’s socialist politics – whether it is the waiving of school fees for girls until their post graduation or providing a 50 per cent reservation to women in panchayats.

But what is it about Thakur’s legacy that makes political parties queue up to stake claim?

Thakur’s life can be divided into three phases: when he was a freedom fighter and a staunch socialist who worked under the guidance of stalwarts such as Jayaprakash Narain, Dr Rammanohar