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Former PM Indira Gandhi’s close confident closes his eyes to the world

he tied the knot at the age of 74 in 2011

Former Prime Minister’s Indira Gandhi’s close and confidant aide has bid goodbye to the world.

Rajinder Kumar Dhawan, who passed away at the age of 81, was a close confidant of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and served the Congress and its leaders in different capacities in his long career spanning nearly five decades.

Rajinder Kumar Dhawan

He passed away on the 6th of August, 2018 in a local hospital in New Delhi. He breathed his last at the B L Kapur hospital around 7 pm, sources close to the family said.

Rajinder Kumar Dhawan was admitted to the hospital last Tuesday for age-related ailments, they said.

CONDOLENCES

“Our homage to veteran Congress leader, Sh. R.K.Dhawan, who breathed his last today. His tireless spirit, immeasurable commitment & untiring dedication to the Congress ideals will always be remembered. RIP,” Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala tweeted.

Former President Pranab Mukherjee also expressed grief at Dhawan’s demise.

“Deeply shocked at passing away of Shri RK Dhawan. Though he was ailing I had never expected that the end will come so soon. A close associate and colleague in Party and Government, he will forever be fondly remembered,” Mukherjee tweeted.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said he was shocked and saddened at the demise of Dhawan and recalled that he had worked closely with him.

“I would always remember him as an astute politician and loyal soldier of the party. May he rest in peace and may God give his family the courage to bear the loss,” he said on Twitter.

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HIS DAYS AS THE AIDE

A former Union Minister, Dhawan had been a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and a party general secretary.

A trusted loyalist of Nehru-Gandhi family, he also worked with former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and former party chief Sonia Gandhi.

Dhawan was a member of Rajya Sabha twice, from April 1990 to April 1996, and July 2004 to July 2010.

Dhawan joined Indira Gandhi as a personal assistant in 1962 and worked with her until she breathed her last. He was part of Indira Gandhi’s innermost circle during the Emergency (1975-77) and a witness to her assassination in October 1984.

He later said in an interview that if some bad things had not happened during the Emergency, Indira Gandhi would not have lost the 1977 general elections.

Dhawan served as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Urban Development Ministry in the PV Narasimha Rao government from September 1995 to February 1996.

He faced Shah Commission, Maruti Commission, Thakkar Commission, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and income tax raids and inquiries, and Privileges Committee of Parliament and was jailed during the Janata Party Government in 1977 on refusal to depose against Indira Gandhi.

With the Thakkar Commission of Inquiry, set up to probe Indira Gandhi’s assassination, pointing the needle of suspicion on him, Dhawan in an interview described his facing the panel for four years as the “darkest period” of his life and said he wished he had died with Indira Gandhi.

Dhawan was lodged in Tihar Jail along with Indira Gandhi by a Resolution of the Lok Sabha on the Report of Privileges Committee of Parliament, 1978.

Although he did not get any prominent role during the initial years of Rajiv Gandhi government, he was appointed Officer on Special Duty to the PM in 1989. He later joined politics.

Approachable and communicative, Dhawan had a rugged grassroots charm and sought to defuse a crisis by intense engagement with key players.

Born on July 16, 1937, in Chiniot (now in Pakistan), he got his education in Punjab University, Chandigarh. He got married in 2012 when he was 74.

Dhawan was elected to the CWC in 1992 and 1998 and served as the All India Congress Committee General Secretary during 1996-99 and 2003-04.

The party used his experience in drafting manifestos for some poll-bound states as also in shortlisting candidates for assembly polls.

He was a permanent invitee to the CWC when party President Rahul Gandhi dissolved it earlier this year before the party’s plenary to form a steering committee.

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