A gentleman politician

Former Prime Minister I K Gujral, who headed a rag-tag coalition government in the late 1990s, and was popular for propounding the “Gujral Doctrine”, which professed maintaining good neighbourly relations, died on Friday after a brief illness. He was 92.

Gujral breathed his last at 3.31 pm after a multi-organ failure at a private hospital in Gurgaon, where he had been admitted with a lung infection on November 19.

The former PM, who was on ventilator support, had been unwell for sometime. He was on dialysis for over a year and had complained of chest pain some days ago. His cremation will be held on Saturday.

Gujral, who chose India as his home country during partition, rose to become the Prime Minister with an element of luck after he came up through the ranks - starting as Vice-President in NDMC in 1958. He formally joined the Congress and six years later, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave him a ticket to the Rajya Sabha in April 1964.

He was the Information and Broadcasting Minister when the Emergency was imposed on June 25, 1975, which brought in arbitrary press censorship. He had been then sent to Moscow as Ambassador -- a post he handled with tact.

He left the Congress to join the Janata Dal in the late-1980s. He became Minister of External Affairs in the V P Singh-led National Front Government in 1989. Gujral had a second stint as External Affairs Minister in the United Front(UF)  Government under H D Deve Gowda, whom he replaced as Prime Minister when the Congress withdrew support in 1997.  It was another matter that his government survived only for 10 months. His interventions in international affairs are remembered even today.

PM Pays Rich Tributes

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid rich tributes to Gujral, describing him as a “scholar-statesman” and said the loss would be felt not only in India but across the world. In a condolence message, Singh termed Gujral “an intellectual, a scholar-statesman and a gentleman politician” who left an imprint on every position he held. Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed deep grief over his death and hailed his his “ability, sagacity, and deep understanding of national and international affairs”. BJP president Nitin Gadkari said: “I K Gujral was a versatile politician and a thinker who served the nation in various capacities with utmost dedication and sincerity. Gujral was a staunch nationalist and a great patriot, who had a thorough knowledge of international affairs”.

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj descibed him as a “great statesman”. “He will be remembered for his finesse and decency in politics,” she said. Bihar government has declared a three-day state mourning.