The mortal remains of former Bihar deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, were brought to Patna on Tuesday for his final rites. Several leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) paid last tribute to the leader. The cremation, held at around 5:30 PM, was conducted with full state honour.
A statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office said that Modi, who succumbed to renal cancer at the age of 72 on Monday night at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences, will be accorded full state honours during his cremation.
Senior BJP Leaders Pay Tribute To Sushil Modi
BJP president JP Nadda, along with Bihar Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha, paid tributes to former Bihar Dy CM Sushil Kumar Modi.
Sushil Kumar Modi, arguably one of the most influential leaders the BJP has produced in Bihar, has played a pivotal role in shaping the party's trajectory in the state.
Born into a Vaishya family in Bihar, Modi actively engaged in student politics while pursuing his BSc at Patna University. He participated in the Bihar movement of 1974 led by socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, forging associations with future collaborators like Nitish Kumar and adversaries like Lalu Yadav.
Modi rose to prominence as one of the key leaders of the ABVP, the RSS's student wing, in Bihar. He often credited his foray into politics to the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
PTI recalled an anecdote shared by Modi, it was at his wedding ceremony in 1986 that Vajpayee, then BJP's head, advised him to transition from student politics to full-time political activism.
His political journey saw him elected for the first time in 1990 from the now-defunct Patna Central Assembly seat. Modi gained recognition for his activism against the alleged corruption in the government led by Lalu Prasad, notably as one of the litigants in the petition that led to the investigation of the infamous fodder scam by the CBI.
Modi's leadership prowess was further evident during his tenure as the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar alongside Nitish Kumar. Their alliance and rapport were central to the state's politics for years.