Tribute to BJP Veteran Bhairon Singh Shekhawat

Jaipur: BJP Veteran , Former Vice President and Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat passed away here at Swai Man Hospital at 11.10 am. He was 87. He was admitted on May 13th complaining of uneasiness and breathing problems, His conditions deteriorated today morning.

Funeral will take place here tomorrow, family sources said. His embalmed body will be kept at his bungalow in the civil lines area here to enable people to pay their last respects.
The body of 87-year-old will later be taken to the BJP office before cremation at Chandpol ground. As the news of his death this morning spread, leaders from across the political spectrum rushed to his residence to pay their tributes.

Family

His father’s name was Shri Devi Singh Shekhawat and his mother was Shrimati Banne Kanwar. He was born in the village of Khachariawas, in the district of Sikar in Rajasthan. He is married to Shrimati Suraj Kanwar and they have a daughter Shrimati Ratan Kanwar who is married to Shri Narpat Singh Rajvi, senior BJP leader of Rajasthan and a former cabinet minister in the Govt. of Rajashan.

Political Life

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat enjoyed the enviable reputation of ‘Ajatshatru’ — for having friends across the political spectrum in his over five decades-long political career.

The “Rajasthan Ka Ek hi Singh” as he is popularly lauded by the millions of his supporters, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is one of the oldest anti-Congress leaders alive in India. An RSS functionary from a young age, he quit his job in Police force and joined politics in 1952

Till 1977, the Indian National Congress won elections in majority of the states in India. Shekhawat always posed to be a threat to the Congress in Rajasthan.
He served as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan state three times, from 1977 to 1980, 1990 to 1992, and 1993 to 1998.

Shekhawat was elected as the Vice President of India in the year 2002. Shekhawat was the only member of the Rajasthan Assembly to have won in every assembly election since 1952, except 1972 when he lost from Gandhi Nagar in Jaipur.

His tenure as the chief minister of the desert state was marked by pragmatism as his government launched path-breaking policies. His brainchild – the Antyodaya scheme to help the poorest of the poor, brought international accolades for Shekhawat with the then World Bank Chief Robert McNamara describing him as the Rockefeller of India.

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