On Saturday, March 30, 2024, President Droupadi Murmu presented the Bharat Ratna to the desecendants of three politicians -- former prime ministers Charan Singh and P V Narasimha Rao and former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur -- and agricultural scientist Dr M S Swaminathan.

A few days later, Ram Nath Thakur, a Rajya Sabha MP from the Janata Dal-United party and Karpoori Thakur's eldest son, brought the Bharat Ratna to show JD-U President and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Photographs curated by Anant Salvi/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com