Shashi Tharoor has been awarded France’s highest civilian honor, “Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur.” This event was held in the French embassy. Gerard Larcher, President of the French Senate, acknowledged the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram.
The prize was announced in August 2022 but given on February 20. According to a statement provided by the French Embassy, Tharoor was acknowledged for his efforts to enhance the link between India and France, his commitment to world peace, and his friendship with France.
Words of Honour for Shashi Tharoor
Larcher emphasized Tharoor’s excellent career and commitment to creating a better society.
“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,” Larcher said.
“Dr. Tharoor is also a real friend of France, a Francophone with a deep grasp of the country and its culture. The French Republic honors your talents, friendship, love of France, and dedication to a fairer world with this award, which I am honored to present,” Larcher added.
Tharoor expressed his gratitude upon accepting the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur.
“To my mind, the conferral of this award to an Indian is an acknowledgment of the deepening of Franco-Indian relations and the continuity of the warmth that has been a feature of this relationship for a very long time,” Tharoor said.
What is Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur?
The Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. It is France’s highest civilian honor, recognizing outstanding achievements and contributions to the country. It encompasses contributions to the arts, literature, science, and public service, among others.
Indians who have received this award
Durga Charan Rakshit was the first Indian to earn this distinction. Rakshit received the medal in 1896 for his humanitarian efforts. Then, Mohamed Haniff, the Deputy Mayor of Pondicherry in French India, received it in 1937. In independent India, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan earned the award in 2005. The “Metroman of India” contributed significantly to the construction of the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro.
The following recipients of the medal were human rights campaigners Cedric Prakash (2006) and Anjali Gopalan (2013). Shah Rukh Khan, a Bollywood star, got the award in 2014. Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, got the honor in 2023.
Other names include actors Sivaji Ganesan (1995), Kamal Haasan (2016), and Soumitra Chatterjee (2017), as well as businessman Nadir Godrej (2008) and fashion designer Manish Arora (2016) and Wipro founder Azim Premji (2018).
