Madan Mohan -- in an exclusive interview with IANS -- said that such honour for the former PM Narasimha Rao was much-awaited because of his exemplary and visionary leadership in ‘turbulent times of 1990s’.

Narasimha Rao’s nephew thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bestowing first non-Congress PM with the Bharat Ratna, ‘something which could have been done much ago’.

“Immensely thankful to PM Modi for conferring nation’s highest civilian award to Narasimha Rao,” said the son of PV Manohar Rao, ex-PM’s younger brother.

Madan Mohan, who has been a journalist for 30 years, also heaped praises on Modi government for identifying the grassroots heroes and lauding their contribution in nation’s growth.

He said that under the Modi-led NDA government, many people with common background are now getting acknowledged and felicitated at national level.

Tearing into the grand old party, he said that Congress neglected Narasimha Rao’s contributions and it had to pay a heavy price for this in subsequent years.

Madan Mohan, who has worked with diverse media organisations for almost three decades, also had a word of advice for the grand old party.

“Congress needs to learn from the incumbent Modi government,” he said, while inferring to its ‘archaic’ ways as against NDA’s reform-driven governance.

Earlier, P.V. Manohar Rao, ex-PM Narasimha Rao’s brother also berated the Congress for dithering over Bharat Ratna award to the ‘man who brought reforms’ to India.

Speaking to IANS, he said that it took more than 20 years to award Bharat Ratna despite Manmohan Singh-led UPA government staying in power from 2004-2014.

Narasimha Rao along with former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh and renowned scientist Swaminathan were picked for nation’s highest civilian honour, PM Modi announced via his X handle today.

Notably, Narasimha Rao is widely credited for bringing reforms to the nation in 1990s, beset by economic crisis. His six-time Parliamentary tenure came to an end in 2004 after his demise at the age of 83.