As many as 12 persons from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana received this year’s Padma awards. Of these, two were honoured with Padma Bhushan, while ten were awarded Padma Sri awards.
Those who received Padma Bhushan awards are Swamy Chinna Jeeyar and Kamlesh D Patel, both in Telangana category. Both received the awards for their contributions under the spiritual category.
Swamy Chinna Jeeyar, formally known as Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana Ramanuja Chinna Jeeyar Swami, is known for his precepts on Sri Vaishnavism. He hails from Andhra Pradesh, though now headquartered in Hyderabad. He acquired fame after Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao elevated him as the unofficial guru in his government.
However, Rao fell out with Jeeyar Swamy following the differences that arose in the aftermath of the construction of the Statue of Equality, also referred to as the Ramanuja statue. Subsequently, Chinna Jeeyar became close to the BJP, while KCR distanced himself from the guru. It is in this backdrop that Chinna Jeeyar received the Padma Bhushan award.
Kamlesh D. Patel, also known as Daaji among his followers, is described as spiritual leader, author and the fourth in the line of Rāja yoga masters in the Sahaj Marg system of spiritual practice. He hails from Gujarat. It is not known why he was awarded under Telangana.
Others who received Padma Shri from Telangana are 1. Moddadugu Vijay Gupta (Science & Engineering ) 2. Hanumantha Rao Pasupuleti (Medicine) 3. B Ramakrishna Reddy (Literature & Education).
From Andhra Pradesh, the most prominent person is MM Keeravani, who rose to international fame following the Golden Globe Award win as Best Original Song in the film RRR. Six others were honoured with Padma Shri from Andhra Pradesh. They are 1.C.V. Raju (Art) 2. Abareddy Nageswara Rao (Science & Engineering) 3. Kota Satchidananda Murthy (Art) 4. Sankurathri Chandrasekhar (Social Work) 5. Prakash Chandra Sood (Literature & Education) 6. Ganesh Nagappa Krishnarajanagar (Science). Dr K N Ganesh hails from Bengaluru but worked in CCMB, Hyderabad. He is the founder director of Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER), Tirupati since 2017.
A total of 104 personalities were honoued with Padma awards this year. Other prominent awardees include Tabla player Zakir Hussain, Congress leader S M Krishna, singer Vani Jayaram, social activist Sudha Murthy and Kannada writer S L Bhyrappa.
List of Padma Awardees:
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