Date:13/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/13/stories/2008011359750800.htm

National

We don’t accept state awards: CPI(M)

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The CPI(M) on Saturday brushed aside suggestions that Bharat Ratna be given to veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu, saying the party does not accept state awards. “It is not a practice of our leaders to accept state awards,” sources in the party said.

During the tenure of P.V. Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister, the government offered Padma Vibhushan to the former CPI(M) general secretary and veteran freedom fighter E.M.S. Namboodiripad, but the party rejected the proposal, the sources said.

Mr. Basu’s name came up after senior BJP leader L.K. Advani wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, recommending that the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee be given Bharat Ratna.