Political message behind Padma awards 2026: Cross-ideology nods, a Kerala subtext
Multiple awardees are from the poll-bound states of Kerala (8), Tamil Nadu (13), and West Bengal (11). Of the five Padma Vibhushans, three have gone to public figures from Kerala.
Former Kerala CM and CPI(M) stalwart V S Achuthanandan is one of the three public figures from Kerala to have been awarded the Padma Vibhushan. He passed away last year. The Padma awards were announced on Sunday, with the BJP’s ideological opponents, the late VS Achuthanandan of the CPI(M) and late Shibu Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), making it to the list along with BJP veteran Bhagat Singh Koshyari and the late V K Malhotra, who started his career with the Jana Sangh.
Multiple awardees are from the poll-bound states of Kerala (8), Tamil Nadu (13), and West Bengal (11). Of the five Padma Vibhushans, three are from Kerala. One of them is former CM and CPI(M) stalwart V S Achutanandan, who died last year. “It is a recognition from the country. It is priceless and the family takes that honour with great pleasure,” said his son V A Arun Kumar.
The posthumous awards for Achuthanandan and Soren were part of a cross-ideology message from the government. Achuthanandan famously did not get along with current Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan. VS, as Achuthanandan was popularly known, was a rebel throughout his life, known for taking principled stands that were often at odds with the party leadership. For several years, one of his bitter rivals in the party was Vijayan. Their feud worsened to such an extent that in 2007 the CPI(M) removed VS, the CM at the time, from the Politburo in what is one of the rarest punishments the party has meted out. The leadership also suspended Vijayan. Six months later, both were reinstated.
Another award with a political significance is the Padma Bhushan for backward Hindu Ezhava community leader Vellappally Natesan, the general secretary of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, in public affairs. Natesan, who has faced frequent backlash over anti-Muslim remarks, recently issued a call for Hindu unity in Kerala and is perceived to have drifted towards the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government, predicting that the CM would return for a third straight term in office. Natesan’s son Thushar Vellappally heads the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena, the SNDP Yogam’s political arm and an NDA constituent in Kerala.
Last October, Natesan had told ieMalayalam’s Varthamanam podcast that rewards meant little to him. “I do not want Padma Bhushan… What value does it have? It has become a thing that can be purchased. There was a time when it had value,” he said.
Senior RSS leader P Narayanan, 90, another recipient of Padma Vibhushan, was a pracharak in North Kerala for several years. He also served as the chief editor of Sangh Parivar-backed Malayalam daily Janmabhoomi and the state convener of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch. He has been awarded the award in the field of literature and education.
Former Jharkhand CM Soren got the Padma Bhushan about two years after his son and JMM leader Hemant Soren was jailed, which was followed by the defeat of the BJP in the Jharkhand Assembly elections. Soren died in August 2025.
The late Malhotra, a veteran from the Jana Sangh days who was a five-time MP and had defeated Dr Manmohan Singh in Delhi in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, was awarded the Padma Bhushan posthumously for public affairs. He passed away in September 2025.
Former Uttarakhand CM and ex-Maharashtra Governor Koshyari also received the Padma Bhushan in the category. He was the Governor in 2022, when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government collapsed and made way for the Mahayuti government of the BJP and the Shiv Sena.
Like in previous years, this time, too, the political message seems to be not just confined to the overt political figures. The Padma Vibhushan has been conferred on the late Hindi film star Dharmendra, who was also a BJP MP for a term. However, apart from Dharmendra’s popularity as an actor, he has an iconic status in Punjab, his native state, in general, and among Sikhs of the state and the Jats across Haryana, western UP, and Rajasthan. The BJP is weak in Punjab and has had concerns regarding Jat support, both because of the farm agitation and the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar as Vice-President of India last year.
Not unprecedented
The choices are not unprecedented. Towards the end of PM Narendra Modi’s second term, in early 2024, there was a flurry of Bharat Ratna awards across ideological lines. BJP veteran L K Advani was given the highest civilian award at a time when the inauguration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya was in the news. Former PM and Congress leader P V Narsimha Rao was also awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously, something that was also seen as a snub to the Congress, which had sidelined him in his later years and was perceived as having ignored his legacy.
Again, early in 2024, the Centre announced that former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh was being awarded the Bharat Ratna, at a time when there was a perception of a coldness among the Jats towards the BJP in the wake of the year-long farm agitation a few years ago against the now-abolished farm laws. Soon afterwards, Charan Singh’s grandson and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary, who hailed the decision, joined the NDA for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Also, with the opposition demanding a caste census and accusing the BJP of trying to reverse reservations, the Centre also gave the Bharat Ratna to former Bihar Chief Minister Kapoori Thakur, seen as a social justice icon. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar rejoined the NDA, bolstering the social justice pitch.
Share
