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Vice-President Krishan Kant passes away

Vice-President Krishan Kant died at 0845 this morning after suffering a massive heart attack. A three-day state mourning has been declared to mourn his death.

The end came at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

AIIMS Medical Superintendent R K Sarma said Kant was brought to the hospital at 0738 and declared dead at 0845. 'On arrival, he was immediately attended to by a panel of doctors comprising senior cardiologists, anesthesiologists and head of the department of surgery. On arrival, he was found to be in a state of cardiac arrest with rigor mortis,' an AIIMS bulletin said. Sarma said all resuscitation measures of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation including external and internal pacemaker systems had no effect.

'However, there was no electrical activity and complete dissociation of electro-mechanical activity. All resuscitation measures were unsuccessful and the panel of doctors finally declared him dead at 0845 hours,' the bulletin said.

The body was taken for embalming, a process that took about three hours. President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani were among the callers at AIIMS. The body was taken to Kant's Maulana Azad Road home at 1135 for people to pay their last respects.

Kant will be accorded a State funeral on Sunday. The last rites will take place at the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium between 1600 and 1700 hours.

An emergency meeting of the Union Cabinet condoled the vice-president's death. The all party meeting on electoral reforms has been postponed as a consequence of Kant's demise. Asked who would officiate in the interim period till a new vice-president assumed office on August 20, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said "the Cabinet has not taken any decision. The Constitution is being studied."

The Union home ministry issued an extraordinary black-bordered gazette notification announcing Kant's death. Instructions have also been issued for the national flag to be flown at half-mast throughout the country on Saturday.

An official dinner to be hosted by External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha tonight for visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell has been cancelled in the wake of Kant's death, official sources said, adding that Powell's official engagements would take place as scheduled.

Kant is the first vice-president to die in office. He would have demitted office next month.

His last public appearance was two days ago, when President A P J Abdul Kalam was sworn in. It was he who read out Kalam's speech in Hindi to the nation.

Born in Kot Mohammad Khan village in Amritsar district on February 28, 1927 to a family of freedom fighters, he plunged into the freedom struggle by taking part in the Quit India Movement while he was a student in Lahore.

Although he began his career as a scientist with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research -- he had an MSc (Tech) from the Banaras Hindu University -- he soon returned to politics. His father Lala Achint Ram, a contemporary of Lala Lajpat Rai, was actively involved in the freedom struggle undergoing imprisonment on several occasions along with his wife. Lala Achint Ram was a member of the Constituent Assembly and later an MP.

Kant was a member of the Young Turks faction in the Congress during the late sixties and early seventies, along with Chandra Shekhar, Mohan Dharia and Ram Dhan. The Young Turks helped Indira Gandhi combat the Congress old guard, leaders like Morarji Desai and S Nijalingappa. Kant and the others mounted pressure on Indira Gandhi to shift government policies left-of-centre.

However, the influence of the Young Turks declined after the 1971 general election when the Congress party secured a huge majority in Parliament. Relations between them and Indira Gandhi worsened as she resisted their attempts to influence policy. Their subsequent association with Jayaprakash Narayan and sustained opposition to Indira Gandhi's policies earned the Young Turks expulsion from the Congress in 1975 and landed them in prison during the Emergency.

A member of the Rajya Sabha (1966 to 1977) and Lok Sabha (1977 to 1980), Kant spent the eighties in near political oblivion till he was appointed governor of Andhra Pradesh in 1990. He spent seven years in Hyderabad and left a deep impact on the city with his correct and elegant handling of matters of state. He resigned as governor in 1997 and was thereafter elected to the vice-presidency.

Kant became a surprise nominee for the vice-president's post when his jail-mate during the Quit India movement I K Gujral became prime minister heading the United Front Government. He was also one of the frontrunners to succeed President K R Narayanan this year, but his candidature, espoused by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu and supported by the Congress and Left parties, did not find favour with Bharatiya Janata Party hardliners and some constituents of the National Democratic Alliance.

Last December he had a narrow escape during the attack on Parliament. He was about to leave Parliament House when the terrorists launched their assault. Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman V K Malhotra then said 'one of the terrorists managed to fire at the door of the vice-president's office before he was shot down.' Malhotra said Kant was saved by the intervention of a Rajya Sabha official who chased the terrorist but was himself shot dead. Several members of Kant's bodyguard perished in the attack.

Agencies, rediff Delhi Bureau

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