The Narendra Modi Government on Wednesday conferred the country’s highest civilian award – the Bharat Ratna – to veteran BJP leader and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, 90, and posthumously on noted freedom fighter and educationist Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya.

Both the leaders share their birthday on December 25, which is being observed country-wide as 'Good Governance Day’ by the Government.

“The President has been pleased to award Bharat Ratna to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (posthumously) and to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” said a communiqué from the President’s Secretariat.

In the past few years, the Bharat Ratna has been conferred on cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, scientist CNR Rao, M Visvesarya, vocalists Bhimsen Joshi, MS Subbulakshmi, industrialist JRD Tata, among others. He quit active politics in 1937 and passed away in 1946.

Madan Mohan Malviya

Malviya, born in 1861, was a teacher by profession and later did law and went on to become a civil lawyer. He gave up his practice in 1913 and plunged into the freedom struggle. He was with the Congress party for 50 years and was president of the party for a four times in 1909 (Lahore), 1918 (Delhi), 1930 (Delhi) and 1930 (Calcutta).

A vocal upholder of the cause of Hindu nationalism, Malviya presided over the special session of the Hindu Mahasabha in Gaya in 1922, Kashi in 1923 and remained in its leadership till 1927. He also spearheaded the Cow Protection Society in 1941, according to his biography.

Malviya left the Congress to float the Congress Nationalist Party, which won 12 seats in the central legislature in 1934.

He was also the chairman of The Hindustan Times from 1924 to 1946 and was the driving force behind the launch of its Hindi edition, Hindustan . He raised funds to acquire Hindustan Times with the help of industrialist G D Birla, and leaders such as Lala Lajpat Rai.

Among his key contributions to the field of education are the setting up of one of the premier institutions of learning in India, the Banaras Hindu University in 1916 .

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

A Bharat Ratna for Vajpayee, 90, was a long-standing demand of the ruling BJP. A ‘moderate’ face of the BJP, Vajpayee was India’s 11th Prime Minister from May 16-31, 1996 and then from March 1998 to May 2004.

Born in 1924 in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, the veteran politician was a member of Parliament since 1957, representing Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi. His legacy as Prime Minister marked the Pokhran-II nuclear tests, highway projects such as the Golden Quadrilateral and running a direct bus between India and Pakistan.

Vajpayee, also known as a poet, attended Gwalior's Victoria College and graduated from there, followed by post-graduation in political science from DAV College, Kanpur.

He later joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and served the Rashtradharma, Veer Arjun and Panchjanya newspapers as a journalist and poet. A bachelor, an ailing Vajpayee now lives in Delhi with his foster daughter and her family.

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