Karpoori Thakur's MP son thanks PM Modi for Bharat Ratna honour

New Delhi: JD(U) MP Ram Nath Thakur has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, thanking him for the Bharat Ratna honour bestowed on his father and former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur and said the country's extremely backward classes -- especially the people of Bihar -- will always be grateful to the government.

Karpoori Thakur fought all his life for the rights and respect of the poor, Dalits, backward sections and the deprived, he said in the letter to Modi, expressing his gratitude for bestowing the country's highest civilian honour on the former Bihar chief minister in his birth centenary year.

The award was long-awaited and the government announced it in the first month of the year, the Rajya Sabha member noted.

Socialists and followers of Mahatma Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia draw inspiration from Karpoori Thakur's life, and the government's decision has ensured that he will be remembered as a Bharat Ratna, he said.