Former Union Minister and RLD chief Ajit Singh dies due to Covid-19

He was diagnosed positive for Covid-19 on April 20

A crusader for farmers’ rights, former union minister and RLD chief Ajit Singh breathed his last on Thursday morning after battling Covid-19. He was 82.

Singh, a prominent Jat leader who was influential in the large swathes of western Uttar Pradesh, died at 8:20 am at a private hospital at Gurugram in Haryana where he was admitted after contracting the infectious disease on April 20.

“As our nation confronts this horrific pandemic, it is our humble request to all those who with to pay their respects, to please stay at home as far as possible,” former Lok Sabha member Jayant Chaudhary, the late leader’s son, said in a statement. Ajit Singh’s last ritles were carried out maintaining Covid protocol on Thursday morning.

The son of former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, Ajit Singh was one of the few IIT graduates who had turned to politics in the 1980s.

After a B-Tech from IIT-Kharagpur, Ajit Singh pursued higher studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology and worked with IBM in the 1960s as systems expert before returning for the aid of his aging father in 1981.

Ajit Singh was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1986 and made his debut in the Lok Sabha in 1989. He was a seven-term Lok Sabha member and held diverse portfolios in the Council of Ministers of prime ministers V P Singh, P V Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, NCP chief Sharad Pawar among others condoled the death of Ajit Singh.

He lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Baghpat to BJP candidate Satyapal Singh, a former Mumbai Police Commissioner, against the backdrop of the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 that led to a split in the famed Jat-Muslim unity in western Uttar Pradesh.

Ajit Singh was also instrumental in the Kairana model where SP leader Tabassum Hassan had contested and won the Lok Sabha bypoll from Kairana as a RLD candidate against BJP’s Mriganka Singh by a record margin.

However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Ajit Singh had to face defeat at the hands of BJP candidate Sanjeev Balyan from Muzaffarnagar. Singh had made an emotional appeal to the electorate to consider it as his last election.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, NCP chief Sharad Pawar among others condoled the death of Ajit Singh.

“He always raised his voice in the interest of farmers. As a peoples’ representative and a minister, he left a distinct mark on politics in the country,” Kovind said.

Modi also hailed Ajit Singh as a leader devoted to the interests of the farmers.

Offering his condolences, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, "The news of the untimely demise of Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh ji is sad. My condolences to his family and loved ones."

National Conference president Omar Abdullah tweeted, "Shocked to hear of the demise of Ajit Singh ji. I can’t begin to imagine what you are going through @jayantrld. I join my father, who had a long & warm association with your father, in sending our condolences & prayers."