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Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar (13 December 1955 – 17 March 2019) was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party who was the Chief Minister of Goa for three terms. He also served as the Union Minister of Defence from October 2014 to March 2017. In January 2020, he was posthumously awarded the Padma Bhushan.
Parrikar proposed Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate at the 2013 BJP parliamentary elections convention in Goa. He then served in the National Democratic Alliance government under Prime Minister Modi as Defence Minister of India from 2014 to 2017. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh from 2014 to 2017.
He was the first IIT alumnus to serve as MLA of an Indian state, the first IITian to become the Chief Minister of a state in India, the first Goan to become a cabinet-rank minister at the Centre, and also the first Chief Minister of a state to continue in office for over a year despite being diagnosed with terminal-stage cancer.
On 5 June 2002, he was re-elected and served another term as Chief Minister. On 29 January 2005, his government was reduced to a minority in the Assembly after four BJP MLAs resigned from the House. Pratapsing Rane of the Indian National Congress would subsequently replace Parrikar as Chief Minister.
In 2007, the Parrikar led BJP was defeated in the Goa state elections by the Congress led by Digambar Kamat. BJP and their party-allies won twenty-four seats against the Congress' nine in the Goa Assembly Elections held in March 2012. After coming to power on the promise of getting rid of casinos from the state, in 2014 Parrikar granted permanent licenses to casinos in Goa.
In 2014, Parrikar drew criticism for approving a junket costing at least for six MLAs from the ruling party, including three ministers, to attend the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The Indian National Congress termed the trip "wasteful expenditure" and criticized the lack of other government officials or soccer experts in the delegation.
On 14 March 2017, Parrikar was sworn in as Chief Minister of Goa. Goa Forward Party led by Vijai Sardesai, one of the parties who allied with BJP in Goa after election results were announced, had said that it would extend support to the BJP only if Parrikar was brought back to the state as Chief Minister.
Parrikar was preceded by Laxmikant Parsekar as Goa's CM. Parrikar had represented the Panaji constituency in the Goa Legislative Assembly when he was a player in the state politics.
In November 2014, Parrikar was chosen as the Minister of Defence replacing Arun Jaitley, who, till then, held additional charge of the Ministry. His entry into the parliament was facilitated by choosing him as the party's candidate for the elected Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh.
Parrikar often made remarks of controversial nature. In wake of the debate on religious intolerance in India and actor Aamir Khan stating that his wife Kiran Rao had asked to move out of India, Parrikar made a controversial remark that "if anyone speaks like this, he has to be taught a lesson of his life". He later clarified that he had not targeted any specific individual. In August 2016, Parrikar stated that going to Pakistan is the same thing as "going to hell". In November 2016, Parrikar, while serving as Minister of Defence of India, raised a question about why India should bind itself to the no first use policy.
In 2019, an audio tape of Poriem MLA Vishwajit Rane surfaced where he spoke to an unknown person claiming that the Dassault Rafale Aircraft deal papers were in then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's bedroom. Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi attempted to play the alleged audio tape in the Lok Sabha but was not allowed to do so.
He died on 17 March 2019 at the age of 63 from pancreatic cancer at his residence in Panaji. His death was announced by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind in a Twitter condoling his death. His death was condoled by PM Narendra Modi, HM Rajnath Singh, BJP president Amit Shah, INC president Rahul Gandhi, and several other political leaders from all over Goa and India.
On the evening of 18 March, Parrikar was cremated with full state honours at Miramar in Panaji.
The Indian Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses was renamed the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in February 2020.
In December 2022, the new international airport at Mopa, Goa was named Manohar International Airport.
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Reception
In 2001, the Parrikar government turned over fifty-one government primary schools in rural areas to Vidya Bharati, the educational wing of the Sangh Parivar, inviting criticism from educationists. He also drew criticism for approving a junket costing at least for six government MLAs from the ruling party, including three ministers, to attend the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The Indian National Congress termed the trip "wasteful expenditure" and criticized the lack of other government officials or football experts in the delegation.
Illness and death
During March–June 2018, Parrikar was undergoing treatment for what would turn out to be pancreatic cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, United States. He returned to India and in September was admitted in the AIIMS, Delhi for treatment. On 27 October 2018, the Government of Goa announced that Parrikar had pancreatic cancer.
Biography
In June 2020, a biography titled An Extraordinary Life: A Biography of Manohar Parrikar was published by Penguin Random House India. The book, written by journalists Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar, documents Parrikar's life and political career.
Awards
Legacy
In 2019, it was announced that a part of the Miramar beach would be converted to a memorial for Parrikar, featuring a library, a meditation hall, an audio-visual room and a souvenir shop. The memorial is named The Manohar Parrikar Smriti Sthal.
External links
Categories: Recipients Of The Padma Bhushan In Public Affairs, 1955 Births, 2019 Deaths, Bharatiya Janata Party Politicians From Goa, Chief Ministers From Bharatiya Janata Party, Chief Ministers Of Goa, Ministers Of Defence Of India, Iit Bombay Alumni, Leaders Of The Opposition In Goa, Narendra Modi Ministry, People From Mapusa, Rajya Sabha Members From Uttar Pradesh, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Pracharaks, Deaths From Pancreatic Cancer In India, Members Of The National Cadet Corps, Goa Mlas 1999–2002, Goa Mlas 2012–2017, Goa Mlas 2017–2022, Goa Mlas 1994–1999, Goa Mlas 2002–2007, Goa Mlas 2007–2012
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