"I am deeply grieved to inform the house about the demise of Inder Kumar Gujral, the former prime minister of India. He passed away at 3:31 pm," Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde announced in the lower house of parliament.
Gujral, who served as prime minister in a coalition government from April 1997 to March 1998, was admitted to Gurgaon's Medanta Medicity hospital 11 days ago with a lung infection.
The former diplomat was born on December 4, 1919 in the city of Jhelum, Punjab (now part of Pakistan) into a family of Congress party workers.
Gujral joined the Congress party after India won independence and rose through the ranks to become minister of information and broadcasting under prime minister Indira Gandhi from 1969-71 and 1972-75.
Gujral left the Congress party in the 1980s and joined the socialist Janata Dal, serving twice as India's foreign minister before being appointed prime minister in a coalition government in 1997.
The urbane politician was best known for the so-called Gujral Doctrine, an approach to foreign policy based on peaceful accommodation, arguing that India should treat its neighbours with generosity.
As prime minister, he attempted to improve India's strained ties with Pakistan, saying it was time for both nations to leave the past behind and forge a new relationship.
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He spent the night with family of 14th/15th Aug 1947 in Delhi railway station returning from Pakistan. Never knew he would be the PM of India to address 50th year of independence in Red Fort. Stayed in a room of PM's house till it was done up. Urdu literate. Will be remembered for ever by all across the world. May his soul rest in peace
@NK: You are not being pedantic but simply ignorant. A "Britisher" is an informal definition for an inhabitant of Great Britain. The word probably originated in India to describe a Briton and is fully accepted in the English language. If you don't have access to a good dictionary, try searching online.
@Gaurav: My user handle is about the dystopian novel "1984" by George Orwell....something I fear,India might become with the Gandhi family as the Big Brother..
Besides,how can i forget his statement "When a big tree falls,the ground will shake for sometime" and people call Modi a 'butcher'
Besides Morarji Desai did nothing much to the country other than leaking the presence of RAW officials in Pakistan nuclear facility.
My List would be 1. Vajpayee 2. Lal Bahadur Shastri 3. P.V.Narasimha Rao 4. Nehru (He has done both good and bad,and all his bad decisions came out of his Gandhian ideals) 5. Indira Gandhi (I just admire her courage)
Deve Gowda and Gujral slowed down the development of India kickstarted by Narasimha Rao and it was only under Vajpayee,we started realising the our true potential.....
Besides,noone could forget Gujral's stupid move of removing RAW agents from Pakistan...Had he not done this,we could have avoided Kargil War
@Gaurav: PV Narsimha Rao was a great administrator and it was under him the majority of economic reforms were launched. He needs to be in the list instead of Rajiv Gandhi.
@1984 I am sorry i agree with you.i had written his name reminded of the development projects he had initiated and the North-east insurgencies he had brought an end to. But your username reminded me of something terrible he did, i think you can guess that is the massacre of sikhs. OMG how could have i forrgotten that.i am so sorry.I take back his name. But I must mention Jawaharlal Nehru needs to be added in that list.He has done such great things for the country that disqualifying just because he was backstabbed by the chinese would be unfair. Jawaharlal nehru along with Sardar patel achieved something that was impossible that is the Political integration of India.
@1984 : Sorry to be pedantic - there is no such word as a 'Britisher' - it should just be 'British'
He was an intelectual.Great loss.RIP
@Gaurav: How did Rajiv Gandhi come in that list?? Let me tell u the achievements of Rajiv Gandhi 1.Damaged Secularism by allowing personal muslim laws in Shah Bano case 2.Encouraged RSS goons by breaking the locks of Babur Masjid to allow Hindus to pray at the site..This eventually led to the destruction of Mosque few yrs later 3.Sent IPKF to Srilanka which made us an enemy to both Srilankan govt and LTTE 4.Allowed the head of Dow Chemicals to escape when Bhopal tragedy happened in a personally drove car 5.Allowed his wife's friend Quattrochi to loot money in the Bofors scam. 6 Most importantly,bringing Sonia Gandhi to India
Even after all this,half of the institutions,awards,roads are named after him (Rest half are named after his mother and grandfather)
Come out of what Media is feeding you and embrace the reality. The Nehru family is the biggest curse to India.....Britishers must be laughing looking at our country..
A respectable man. RIP IK Gujral
I have family from Jhelum myself. RIP IK Gujral.
@ Naz We dont hate Indians. Dont indict all Punjabis for the errors of our generals and leaders.
Thanks
A Nehru orphan - and nothing more!
May his soul rest in peace . Gujral was one of those politicians who rose above
the prejudices which have marred relations between India and Pakistan .
Ohh Please guys he was not the best PMs India ever had.He was a transitional PM.He was one of the On/Off PMs which Congress had made just to keep BJP out of power. He was an important part of "The Fall of Family Raj in India". India's best PMs were -Lal Bahadur Shastri -Morarji Desai -Rajiv Gandhi -Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
And in the end BJP eventually did form a full majority govt.90s was a very historic period in India's history.India got a solid opposition party which is good for democracy.
He caused more harm to Indian security than any other PM, other than Nehru perhaps.
@Mohammad Ali Siddiqui:
HE will be rememebred in Pakistan as a guy wh oscaled down all anti pakistan spying.. fool...he was.. thought he will impress his punjabi felllows there in pakistan that if India unilaterally reduces army, pakistan will follow...
A country that is created on hatred, the "Un-Indians" will only go down the drain due to increased hatredness....
RIP IKG..
RIP. He was one of the best PMs we ever had. He contributed to the rise of Indian economy in a great way.