Rich tributes continued to pour in for the late former Chief Minister and Governor Kalyan Singh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Lucknow on Sunday to pay his tributes. Later talking to the media, he said: “This is a moment of grief for all of us. His parents had named him Kalyan Singh. He lived his life in such a way that he fulfilled the name given by his parents. He lived his entire life for the public welfare. He made ‘’jan kalyan’’ as the mantra of his life, and dedicated his life for the BJP, Bharatiya Jan Sangh family, for an ideology and for the bright future of the country,” Modi said even as he hailed him as a “committed decision maker” who had become “a name of faith (vishvaas) across the country”.
“For the most part of his life, he made efforts for public welfare. Whatever responsibility he had got, be it as an MLA, any post in the Government, or as a governor, he had been a centre of inspiration for everyone. He became a symbol of faith for the common public,” Modi added.
“We have lost a capable leader. We should make maximum efforts by taking his values and resolutions to compensate for him; we should leave no stone unturned in fulfilling his dreams,” the PM said.
Lauding the role of Kalyan Singh in the ‘Ram Janambhoomi movement’, senior BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi said on Sunday that the late UP Chief Minister’s commitment, drive and sincerity towards resolving the Ayodhya issue was a great source of strength for his party and others and that he was the nation’s leader.
Advani said Singh was a stalwart of Indian politics and a grassroots leader.
“I cherish my many special memories with him during the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement. His commitment, drive and sincerity towards resolving the Ayodhya issue was a great source of strength not only for my party, the BJP, but for scores of Indians who were eagerly waiting to see the realisation of their dream of a grand temple of Lord Ram at Ram Janambhoomi,” he said.
Singh, also an ex-State Governor, was ill for some time, and passed away at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow late on Saturday.
A ‘Lodh leader’, he was the first OBC Chief Minister of the State and drew considerable support from Advani in gaining political eminence.He had fallen-out with Atal Bihari Vajpayee and formed his own political outfit but rejoined the party in 2004 at the latter’s behest.
For his part, Joshi said, “Kalyan Singh wasn’t the leader of a caste. He felt pain for farmers, oppressed and backward but he wasn’t their leader alone. He was the nation’s leader. It’s a personal loss. We faced batons & bullets together. It’ll be tough to make up for the loss.”
“My acquaintance with Kalyan Singh ji is from 1962. I know him since he was a teacher at a college in Aligarh. He used to sing very good songs, Kalyan Singh ji had a very melodious voice. He was a caretaker of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.”
Joshi applauded Singh’s tenure as the UP CM saying, “The most important tenure of Kalyan Singh ji was the time when the Ram Mandir movement was going on. I was the President of the party at that time and he was the UP CM and when he announced that ‘no matter what happens, I will not shoot at Kar Sevaks’, it raised his stature and people got the idea that he is a man of principles,” Joshi said.
“At that time, he had also made it clear that he will not allow bloodshed in the movement of this temple under any circumstances. Back then, this announcement was a big deal,” he said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who also paid tributes to the departed leader in Lucknow, said he lost an elder brother. “We used to tell him (Kalyan) that we are ‘’bhootpoorv’’ (former) chief minister, you are ‘’abhootpoorv’’ (unprecedented) Chief Minister, on which he used to laugh. I have seen him as an elder brother,” he maintained.