His loud guffaws and smile from ear to ear is a thing of the past. Veteran socialist leader and former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (74), succumbed to post-Covid illness at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Sunday.
Singh was under treatment for a lung infection and was put on a ventilator on September 6 after his condition worsened. He is survived by three children.
A trusted lieutenant of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad for nearly three-decades, Singh had resigned from the RJD from his hospital bed just four days ago. His hand-written resignation letter to Lalu went viral on social media platforms.
In his two-line letter to Lalu, Singh wrote, "I have been standing behind you ever since the demise of Karpoori Thakur for the last 32 years. Not anymore."
Lalu did react, writing back that he did not believe that "Raghuvansh babu" would leave him, adding that the two would sit down and sort it out once the leader recovered. On Sunday, the RJD chief tweeted his condolences. "Dear Raghuvansh babu! What have you done? I told you the day before yesterday that you are not going anywhere. But you have gone so far. I am speechless. I am sad. Will miss you very much."
The same day he also wrote to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar about the projects in his constituency Vaishali, and demanded that alms bowl of Lord Buddha should be brought to Vaisali from Kabul Museum and national flag should be hoisted at Vaisaligarh on Independence Day and Republic Day to mark the importance of his native district as the world's first republic.
A rustic man all the way, Singh was one of those few leaders who never faced even single charge of corruption in his nearly 40 years of political life. He had a PhD in mathematics and began his career as a mathematics professor at a north Bihar college. Recognisable by his white kurta and his khadi dhoti, Singh was one of the tallest Rajput leaders of the RJD.
As a Rural Development Minister between 2004 and 2009, Singh was one of the key persons behind the success of the UPA Government's flagship scheme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).
The five-term Lok Sabha member representing Vaishali had been in the news recently despite his illness for expressing his disenchantment with the way RJD was being run.
Upset with the functioning of the party he had formed with Lalu, he was facing an ideological dilemma. Like a true socialist, he sent two handwritten letters, one to Lalu and other to the Bihar CM.
In a moving tribute to the departed leader, Prime Minister Narendra 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 Nitish Kumar to execute the development projects he wrote about in the letter. Let's together — the State and the Centre — fulfil his wishes," Modi said, while referring to Singh's letter to the Chief Minister.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday condoled Singh's demise and said his dedication towards the welfare of the poor and deprived classes will be remembered forever. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi paid rich tributes to Singh, saying with his demise a strong voice of the village and farmers has been lost.
He was also referred to as Brahm Baba (wisely sage) - a nickname coined by Lalu - as he never hesitated in speaking out, even publicly differing with Lalu on a number of occasions. Singh was first elected as an MLA in 1977 on a Sanyukt Socialist Party ticket. He also served as a Minister in the late Karpoori Thakur Ministry. A five-term MLA, Singh was also chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council in 1994-95.
He first entered Parliament in 1996. A four-time MP, Singh was always held in high esteem. He was among the few RJD leaders to never promote his family in politics. When Lalu lost from Madhepura, for the first time, in 1999 Parliamentary elections, it was Singh who was appointed the RJD leader in the LoK Sabha - he was a stringent critic of the Vajpayee Government. His political decline began in 2014 when he lost to convict-turned-politician Rama Singh from the Vaishali parliamentary seat. Singh lost again in 2019.
