PoliticsRise of Dravidian rule

Kamaraj awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously

· Chennai

Kamaraj awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously
Unknown authorUnknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj, who died in October 1975, was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna.

K. Kamaraj, Chief Minister of Madras from 1954 to 1963 and later Congress president, died on 2 October 1975. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1976. He was known for his simplicity and for expanding schools and irrigation in the state. Some observers criticised the timing of the award as aimed at Tamil Nadu voters before the 1977 elections.

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