Why no Bharat Ratna for former PM Manmohan Singh? Chidambaram asks govt

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday asked in Rajya Sabha why the government has not conferred the Bharat Ratna award upon former prime minister Manmohan Singh for his contribution to the country.

Retorting Chidambaram's comment, BJP member Dinesh Sharma said what the Congress has given to Singh beyond insulting him.

In his address during the discussion on the Union Budget 2025-26 in Rajya Sabha, Chidambaram alleged that the present government has no philosophy and "thus no policies".

"In 1991, we faced the gravest situation. A man entered this Parliament; he had an economic philosophy and followed it with policies. That required wisdom and farsightedness - qualities embodied by Dr Manmohan Singh," he recollected.

Chidambaram further said, "To recapture the wisdom and farsightedness of Dr Manmohan Singh, I pose one last question to the government through the Finance Minister: Why has the Bharat Ratna not been conferred upon Dr Manmohan Singh?"  Retorting, Sharma recollected incidents during Singh's career, which according to him were examples of the Congress insulting the late prime minister.

In the 80s, Sharma said when Singh was the Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission, he asked about the government's intent on investing in rural areas but the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi ridiculed the commission as "a group of jokers".

"So Manmohan Singh seemed to be a part of group of jokers at that time," Sharma said.

Referring to the 2013 incident of Rahul Gandhi tearing an ordinance brought by the then UPA government to protect convicted legislators from immediate disqualification, without naming Rahul, Sharma said Singh was made to look "useless" when his legislation was torn by another big leader.