Veteran leader and Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, who was admitted to a private hospital here for the last several days, died yesterday evening. He was 74.
The news of his death was announced by his son and Lok Janshakti Party chief Chirag Paswan, who tweeted: “Father, now you are no more in this world but wherever you are, you will be with me. Miss you papa...”
He also shared an old photo of him and his father along with the tweet.
According to family members, Paswan died yesterday evening at around 8.20pm at the Fortis Hospital here where he was admitted for several days following heart ailments.
On Saturday, Chirag Paswan had announced that his father has to undergo surgery on Friday evening. “And if required, one more surgery can be required in the coming weeks. I thank everyone for standing with me and my family members in such testing times,” he had tweeted.
One of the leading Dalit leaders in the country, Paswan had been minister in the Narendra Modi government, the Manmohan Singh-led UPA-1 government as well as the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government at the Centre.
Born in Khagaria district of Bihar on July 5, 1946, he had been selected for police service but chose to join politics.
First elected as legislator in 1969, he completed five decades in active politics in 2019.
Entering Parliament for the first time in 1977 — with a record margin, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hajipur parliamentary constituency for eight times and served as Union minister under six prime ministers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke to Chirag Paswan over phone to extend their condolences.
Condolence message started pouring in from across the political spectrum.
Modi tweeted: “I am saddened beyond words. There is a void in our nation that will perhaps never be filled. Ram Vilas Paswan’s demise is a personal loss. I have lost a friend, valued colleague and someone who was extremely passionate to ensure every poor person leads a life of dignity.”
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted: “The untimely demise of Ram Vilas Paswan is saddening. The poor downtrodden and Dalit lost a strong voice today. My condolences to his family members.”
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also took to Twitter, writing: “Death of Ram Vilas Paswan is very painful to me. In his long political career he always worked for the upliftment of poor, downtrodden and Dalits. He was considered among one of the tallest leaders associated with Bihar and he had good relations across the political lines.”
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also condoled the death of Paswan. In a tweet, she said: “Ram Vilas Paswan was the neighbour of my mother for years and our family shared a personal relation with him. The news of his death is saddening.”
from Gulf Times https://ift.tt/2GEgm0D
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