Tharoor Gets the Highest French Honor
Shashi Tharoor, a distinguished diplomat, politician, author who has served as a former international civil servant and currently serving as a Member of Parliament since 2009 has been accorded with “Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur”, the highest civilian award of France.
Gerald Larcher, the President of the French Senate bestowed the coveted honour on Tharoor on February 20 2024 at the French Embassy. French Senate President Gerard Larcher honoured the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram.
The announcement of the laurel happened in August 2022 but the ceremony happened in February 2023. The Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram acknowledged and appreciated for his exceptional efforts to reinforce the affinity between Indian and France. Tharoor’s endeavours to promulgate a peaceful and affable bond with France has been accredited.
Larcher acclaimed Shashi Tharoor’s relentless pursuits in fostering harmony and amity in the world. He went on to remark on The Chairman of the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers.
‘Francophone’ Tharoor’s Diplomacy Triumphs
“Through his outstanding career as a diplomat, author and politician, Shashi Tharoor has embraced the world with a thirst for knowledge and an intelligence that has led him to live several lifetimes in one, and all of them in service to India and a better world,” appreciated Larcher in his statement for Tharoor.
Calling him a Francophone (French-afficionado), Larcher commended Dr. Tharoor for being a true friend of France. He shows a profound understanding and reverence for the French nation and its culture. The French Republic recognises his accomplishments, amity and admiration for France and his determination for a more just world.
Filled with gratitude, Tharoor expressed his thanks on receiving the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur by saying that the the bestowal of the award is a symbol of the deepening ties between India and France and a display of the cordial bonds that both the nations share since a long time.
What is the award?
Indians who received it
Apart from the recognized intellectual, Mr. Tharoor, a number of other Indians have received France’s illustrious honour. The first one being Durga Charan Rakshit in 1896 for his humanitarian efforts. Mohamed Haniff – the Deputy Mayor of Pondicherry in French India – received the award in 1937.
In 2005, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, The “Metroman of India” received the prestige for being a critical element in building the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro.
Human right activists – Cedric Prakash (2006) and Anjali Gopalan (2013), have also made their names in the list as did Shah Rukh Khan in 2014. Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata sons is the most recent one to receive the honour in 2023.
Some other notable winners include actors Sivaji Ganesan (1995), Kamal Haasan (2016) and Soumitra Chatterjee (2017), industrialist Nadir Godrej (2008), fashion designer Manish Arora (2016) and Wipro founder Azim Premji (2018).
