Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor was conferred France’s highest civilian honour, the Chevalier de la Legion d’ Honneur France, at an intimate ceremony in the French embassy in the national capital.
Mr. Tharoor was awarded the honour in August 2022, but formal conferring took place on Tuesday.
The Congress leader said that his relationship with France began during his stint in the United Nations and that he has always “nurtured a sense or profound respect for French democracy” as the land where “the people” first replaced “the king” as the nucleus of the nation.
France, which had sought strategic autonomy as part of its alliance with the United States, and India, which valued an independent foreign policy, are natural partners in building new coalitions for uncertain times, he added.
“To my mind, the conferral of this award to an Indian is also an acknowledgement of deepening of Franco-Indian relations, and the continuity of the warmth that has been a feature of this relationship for a very long time,” Mr. Tharoor remarked.
