Veteran Congress leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar, 92, passed away here on Wednesday. He had suffered brain haemorrhage last year after which he had multiple ailments.
Veteran Congress leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar, 92, passed away here on Wednesday. He had suffered brain haemorrhage last year after which he had multiple ailments. His health deteriorated last week and he passed away Wednesday morning.
The body of Jakhar, who breathed his last here at around 7 am, is being taken to his native village Panjkosi near Abohar in Punjab, where he will be cremated on Thursday morning, his family sources said.
Jakhar lived with his son Sunil, a former leader of the Opposition in Punjab, in a rented accommodation in Defence Colony. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul visited his residence to pay their last respects.
A champion of farmers’ causes, Jakhar was agriculture minister in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government and a Lok Sabha member for four terms. He also served as governor of Madhya Pradesh between 2004 and 2009.
Jakhar had the rare honour of having been elected unanimously twice to the office of Speaker, first in the seventh Lok Sabha in 1980 and then again in the eighth Lok Sabha in 1985. He had also earned the rare distinction of being the only Speaker of Lok Sabha in independent India to have presided over two successive Lok Sabhas for their full terms from January 22, 1980 to December 18, 1989.
President Pranab Mukherjee, PM Narendra Modi, LS Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and a number of CMs condoled Jakhar’s death.
“Sad to learn about the passing away of Dr Balram Jakhar, colleague and dear friend of long years. The nation will always remember his valuable contributions and pursuit of excellence in public life,” the President wrote on Twitter.
“Balram Jakharji was a popular leader who enriched our parliamentary democracy in his long political journey. Saddened by his demise. RPI,” the PM tweeted.
In her message to Jakhar’s family, Mrs Gandhi said: “The Congress party, as indeed the entire nation, will forever remember the contributions made by him during the course of his long public life, particularly to the cause of farming community.”
Jakhar also served as Deputy minister in Punjab between 1973-77 and then Leader of Opposition in the Assembly between 1977 and 1979.
He was a four-time member in the Lok Sabha starting from his election in the seventh Lok Sabha in 1980. He was again elected in 1984, 1991 and 1998. In 1980, he became Lok Sabha Speaker and served till 1989 for two terms during which he was instrumental in automation and computerisation of the House works.
Chief ministers Nitish Kumar(Bihar), Shivaj Singh Chouhan(Madhya Pradesh), Tarun Gogoi (Assam),Harish Rawat(Uttarakhand), Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), Mamata Banerjee (west Bengal) condoled the death of Balram Jakhar.
