Raghuvansh Singh's body flown to Patna airport from Delhi, last rites to be performed on Monday

PATNA: Veteran socialist leader and former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, under whose leadership the Centre’s ambitious National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NaREGA) was conceptualized and implemented by the Manmohan Singh government, breathed his last at AIIMS-Delhi on Sunday. He was 74.
The end came at around 11.30 am this fore-noon, Singh’s son Satya Prakash who had- for the last two weeks- been attending his father at the hospital, told TOI over phone. Singh had fallen critically ill on Friday night and was put on a ventilator in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Earlier, he was treated for covid-19 infection at AIIMS-Patna, from where he resigned from the post of national vice-president of the RJD.
Singh was admitted at AIIMS-Delhi for the last two weeks for treatment of post-Covid-19 complications.
He is survived by two sons and a daughter.
Five-term Lok Sabha member from Bihar’s Vaishali seat and multiple term MLA from Besand (Sitamarhi district) assembly constituency, Singh also served as chairperson of the Bihar Legislative Council. He became cabinet minister in the Karpoori Thakur government in 1977.
“Singh’s body would be taken to his native village Shahpur in Bihar’s Vaishali district on Monday,” his son Satya Prakash told TOI.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said Singh’s last rites would be performed with full state honour while following the norms related to restrictions on gathering. “He will be cremated with full state honours at Hasanpur Ghat on the banks of the Ganga, about 15 km from his native village Shahpur,” a family member said.
Earlier on Sunday evening, his body was flown to Patna airport from Delhi. Large number of people including several leading RJD leaders gathered at the airport to pay their last respect to the departed leader.
From the airport, Singh’s body was taken to the premises of state legislature where CM Nitish Kumar, assembly speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary, council chairman Awadhesh Narain Singh and the leader of Opposition in the assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, former CM Rabri Devi and several MLAs and MLCs paid floral tributes by putting wreaths and flower petals on Singh’s body.
From the legislature premises, Singh’s body was taken to his Patna-based residence at Kautilya Nagar where large number of people gathered to pay their last respect to the departed leader.
On Monday, his body would be taken to Vaishali so that people of his constituency could pay their last respect. From Vaishali, the body would be taken to his native village.
A galaxy of nation’s top leaders including President Ramnath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Bihar Governor Phagu Chouhan, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and RJD boss Lalu Prasad condoled his death.
In a tribute to the departed leader, PM Modi, who received the news of his death when he was inaugurating a string of petroleum sector schemes for Bihar, called him a grassroots leader with deep understanding of poverty and problems of the poor.
"I will request CM Nitish Kumar to execute the development projects he wrote about in the letter. Let's together--the state and the Centre--fulfil his wishes," PM Modi said, while referring to Singh’s letter to the CM he had sent on Thursday about development projects in Vaishali Lok Sabha constituency which he represented for five successive terms from 1996 to 2014. Singh, however, lost the Lok Sabha election from Vaishali seat to the LJP's Rama Kishore Singh.
Nitish, who spoke to Singh’ss son Satya Prakash soon after his death, called it a "personal loss."
"Singh’s death is a personal loss to me and an irreparable loss to the political, social, educational life of Bihar and the socialist movement," Nitish said in a condolence message.
Bihar CM later spoke to the state’ss resident commissioner in Delhi and asked him to do the needful for carrying Singh’s body to Patna.