The Hindu : Government declares seven-day mourning

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 24, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Government declares seven-day mourning

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 23. The Government has declared a public holiday tomorrow as a mark of respect to the memory of the Governor, Sikander Bakht.

The State will observe seven-day mourning.

According to the tentative programme, the body of Mr. Bakht would be brought from the Hospital to the Raj Bhavan tomorrow morning and kept there for some time. It will then be shifted to the Durbar Hall where it would lie in state for the public to pay homage. The body would be flown to Delhi by noon for the funeral. The Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, will accompany the body. The Government has decided to give a funeral with full State honours to the departed leader.

The Chief Minister has made a special plea to the organisers of tomorrow's general strike not to block the vehicles of those coming to pay homage to Mr. Bakht.

Mr. Antony paid glowing tributes to Mr. Bakht. He described the sudden death as `painful'. Mr. Bakht had been able to win the love and respect of the people of Kerala within a short period. He had genuine interest in the development of Kerala and strove throughout his tenure to improve the relationship between the Centre and the State. Mr. Antony recalled how Mr. Bakht, who was then the Union Minister for Urban Development, had speeded up the clearance for a new building being constructed on the Kerala House grounds in New Delhi during his tenure as Chief Minister in 1977. He also got the opportunity to work in cooperation with him when Mr. Bakht was the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Mr. Bakht, who was once a leader of the Congress party and a member of its working committee, had no hesitation in expressing openly what he felt was right.

The Leader of the Opposition, V.S. Achuthanandan, described Mr. Bakht as a very able Governor. He said that he was saddened by Mr. Bakht's sudden demise.

The Finance Minister, K. Sankaranaryanan, and the Muslim League leader, E. Ahamed, are among those who condoled Mr. Bakht's demise.

Born in an orthodox Urdu speaking family in New Delhi in August 24, 1918, Sikander Bakht started his political career in the early Fifties as a member of the Indian National Congress after graduating in Science from the Delhi University. Following the split in the Congress party, he became a member of the Working Committee of the Congress (O) and was the general secretary of the party till 1977.

One of the founder-members of the Janata Party, Mr. Bakht later moved on to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was its general secretary from 1980 to 1982. He was imprisoned for about 18 months during the Emergency. He was elected to the sixth Lok Sabha in 1977 and later served as member of the Rajya Sabha from 1990 to 2002. He had served as the Union Minister of Works and Housing (1977 to 1979), Rural and External Affairs Minister (1996) and later as the Industries Minister (1998-99). He had been the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha (1992- 1998) and leader of the Upper House from1998-1999. Mr. Bakht was appointed the Governor of Kerala in April 2002.

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