Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that it feels good when the country or the government recognises someone’s work. Azad was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in the country, on Monday at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
“It feels good when the country or the government recognizes someone’s work. I always feel eager to perform better in my field of work,” Azad told news agency ANI after receiving the award.
“I like that someone recognised my work. Even during my ups and downs in different phases of my life, I always strived to work for the people, be it in the social or political sphere or as a (former) Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Keeping this in view, I am happy with the award given by the government and the people of the country,” he said, adding that he learned to always speak the truth from Mahatma Gandhi.
Slamming those who opposed the government’s decision to honour him, Azad said, “Some people always try to see why such awards are given and who are they being given to. They do not recognise the process and the contribution of the person for attaining this award. This award is given by the nation to me.”
Azad added that politics of religion and politics of caste is not right for the country. “Gandhiji worked for this his whole life and in the end, he even gave his life. Gandhiji is now no more but his life and his principles did not fade away.”
Sources told ANI that Gandhis (Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) skipped the event at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday where the award was conferred on Azad. Azad received the Padma Bhushan in the field of Public Affairs. He received the award from President Ram Nath Kovind.
In August 2019, then Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia had also skipped the ceremony wherein former President Pranab Mukherjee was conferred with Bharat Ratna — the highest civilian award.