NEW DELHI: In a coma for the past six years, former Union Defense Minister Jaswant Singh breathed his last on Sunday. He was 82 years old and died after a prolonged illness.
In 2014, he was admitted to the Army Hospital (Investigation and Referral) in Delhi following a serious head injury after suffering a fall at his residence.
The Indian Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi stated that Singh went into cardiac arrest on Sunday morning. “Despite the best efforts of the team of specialists who treated him to resuscitate him, he could not be revived and he passed away at 6.55 am on September 27, 2020.”
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Jaswant Singh held the Defense, Foreign Affairs and Finance portfolios in the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was one of the founding members of the BJP.
Since he had retired as a senior officer in the Indian Army, it was no wonder that he was very punctual in his meetings with different people. And although he had a background in the Army, he handled not only defense portfolios, but also finances and external affairs in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee governments. He was one of the key ministers who were at the forefront when the Vajpayee government was in power in the Center at different times.
Jaswant Singh, originally from Rajasthan, first served as Union Minister of Finance in the brief Vajpayee government in 1996. He became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the next Vajpayee-led government (1998-2002). Later, he was back in charge of finances in 2002. The veteran leader was also vice chairman of the then Planning Commission at one point.
Considered close to Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani, the BJP leader was appointed Defense Minister following the resignation of George Fernandes after the latter’s name emerged in a defense scam.
A shrewd politician, Jaswant Singh captured the world’s media attention when he was tasked with holding talks with the Taliban for the release of passengers from a hijacked Indian Airlines flight in December 1999. He even escorted three terrorists, charged with various crimes including the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, to Afghanistan to change instead of the safe release of 190 passengers.
After India’s 1998 nuclear tests, Jaswant Singh was appointed by then-Prime Minister Vajpayee to engage the United States in strategic talks.
After the BJP party lost power in the Center in 2004 to the United Progressive Alliance, Jaswant Singh served as the opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha from 2004 to 2009.
The veteran leader sparked controversy after the BJP suffered its second straight loss in the 2009 Lok Sabha election by circulating a note demanding a full discussion on the ballot debacle.
In 2009 he again faced backlash from certain quarters after a book written by him about Pakistan’s leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah, entitled ‘Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence’, was published. He had written sympathetically about the founder of Pakistan. Subsequently, the BJP leader was marginalized within the party and subsequently expelled.
He was reinstated to the party after 10 months, but faced a second expulsion a few years later. In 2014, he had a bitter aftermath with the match after he was denied a ticket from Lok Sabha to compete at Barmer in Rajasthan. However, he decided to challenge the decision of the BJP and fought in the elections as an independent candidate, but lost to Colonel Sona Ram, presented by his old party. This was the last election he contested as an Independent.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha surveys, Singh had declared his assets in an affidavit, according to which he owned a herd of 51 Tharparkar cows and 3 Arabian horses, among other personal property.
He said he has 51 cows and three Arabian horses. They have cows of the Tharparkar variety, which are cows of the local species and are kept on their farm in Jaisalmer and Jodhpur. Although the prince of Saudi Arabia gave him two horses, one was born in India, says the affidavit he submitted to the electoral commission. Singh owns a tractor, a fiat car, a Tata Safari and a Tata Marina car and his wife has three vehicles, including two Toyota Innova, he said.
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