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DMK member Tiruchi Siva has asked the Centre to posthumously confer Bharat Ratna to M Karunanidhi as a tribute to his outstanding and exemplary work for the people.
DMK chief M Karunanidhi died on August 7 after a brief illness. The 94-year-old DMK patriarch had served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for five times but was never a member of Parliament.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Siva said Karunanidhi was a Dravidian stalwart and the tallest leader of the country.
Karunanidhi contributed 80 years to public life, fighting for the cause of the downtrodden, backward and the suppressed people, he said, while elaborating on the achievements of late Karunanidhi.
“I would urge the Government to confer upon him posthumous Bharat Ratna Award which will be a real tribute for his outstanding and exemplary work which had left an indelible mark in the annals of history,” Siva said.
In a break from tradition, both Houses of Parliament were adjourned on August 8 as a mark of respect to M Karunanidhi.
Siva said Karunanidhi had “a long list of achievements which will bring feathers in his crown.”
“He was an outstanding orator, a prolific writer, a novelist, a short-story writer, a philosopher, a
philanthropist and also a dramatist. He was an actor and he also wrote scripts for eighty movies. Sir, he is unparalleled and he made a mark in all walks of life,” Siva said.
The late DMK leader was fighting till his last breath for social justice, secularism, state autonomy and self-respect, he added.
Many members, including Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, associated themselves with Siva’s demand.
