Thakur was a central figure in the social justice politics — a euphemism for the demand for better representation of intermediate castes — of Bihar and the larger Hindi belt, who challenged the Congress’s hegemony. He served two terms as the Chief Minister of Bihar in the 1970s. Social justice politics went through phases of self discovery, and scattered into numerous parties over the years. One strand is closely aligned with the BJP. There are social justice groups that are still opposed to it, but the BJP owes its current strength considerably to intermediate castes. That ongoing process is being reinforced by honouring Thakur. In 2015, A.B. Vajpayee, the first Prime Minister from the BJP, and Madan Mohan Malaviya, the founder of the Banaras Hindu University, were conferred the Bharat Ratna. In 2019, Pranab Mukherjee, Bhupendra Kumar Hazarika, and Nanaji Deshmukh were recipients. All these selections are in tune with the politics of the present — and how the history of the Bharat Ratna has always been. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam founder M.G. Ramachandran and B.R. Ambedkar were also conferred the award in the hope that their followers would, in turn, back the party or alliance ruling at the Centre. Mr. Advani and Thakur represent the two legs of BJP politics, namely Hindu consolidation and higher representation for intermediate castes in all fields.