Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and veteran BJP leader Kalyan Singh died on Saturday after prolonged illness, said the hospital in Lucknow where he was receiving treatment since July. He was 89.
Mr. Singh was the CM of U.P. twice; first from June 1991 to December 6, 1992 when the Babri Masjid was demolished under his watch following which he resigned. The episode had pushed his image of being the Hindutva OBC face of the BJP in the State in the 1990s during the heydays of the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple movement.
Mr. Singh was a Lodh Rajput, an OBC community found in parts of central-west U.P..
A Special CBI Court in Lucknow last September acquitted Mr. Singh along with other senior BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders including Lal Krishna Advani in the Babri Masjid demolition case for lack of credible evidence almost 28 years after the Mughal-era mosque was demolished by a mob of 'karsevaks.'
The Sanjay Gandhi Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences said Mr. Singh was admitted in SGPGI on July 4 in the Intensive Care Unit in critical condition. He died due to sepsis and multi organ failure, said the hospital.
Apart from being the CM of UP, Mr. Singh also served as the Governor of Rajasthan and in September 2019 was re-inducted into the BJP with which he shared a bitter and sweet experience over a long politic career.
Mr. Singh had also served as a Lok Sabha MP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "saddened beyond words" by Kalyan Singh's death.
"Kalyan Singh Ji…statesman, veteran administrator, grassroots level leader and great human. He leaves behind an indelible contribution towards the development of Uttar Pradesh," Mr. Modi tweeted.
The PM said he spoke to Kalyan Singh's son Rajveer Singh, MP from Etah, and expressed condolences. Mr. Modi said Kalyan Singh gave voice to crores of people belonging to the marginalised sections of society.
"He made numerous efforts towards the empowerment of farmers, youngsters and women," the PM said, stating that Kalyan Singh was "firmly rooted in Indian values and took pride in our centuries old traditions."