Gopinath Munde is mourned by all: from Prime Minister to film stars

Pankaja Munde, heir to her father’s legacy

Gopinath Munde’s sudden death by a road accident on Tuesday morning left the whole country in a state of shock and mourning. He had just sworn in as the rural development minister in Narendra Modi’s new cabinet on May 26. The Prime Minister had tweeted after his colleague’s demise: “Extremely saddened & shocked by the demise of my friend & colleague Gopinath Munde ji. His demise is a major loss for the Nation & the Govt.”

64 year old Munde was on his way to the Indira Gandhi National Airport for a felicitation after BJP’s landslide victory when his vehicle was hit by another car at around 6:20 am at Prithviraj road-Tughlak road roundabout, said Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. The medical bulletin at AIIMS said, “Union Minister Gopinath Munde was brought to trauma centre at AIIMS at 6:30 am by personal assistant and driver.” It also said “Gopinath Munde collapsed in the car when the accident happened around 6:20am. He was declared dead at 7:20am.”

Gopinath Munde was mourned deeply by eminent people of the Hindi film industry. He is being remembered and missed as a “leader” and an “inspiring man”. Some of the tweets posted by B-Town celebrities are here as follows:

Javed Akhtar: The sudden demise of Mr. Munde has come as a shock to everyone. My condolence to the family and friends.

Subhash Ghai: Personally Shocked n sad. Munde ji was an inspiring gentleman I knew. He would smile n share everyone’s grief god bless his noble soul (sic).

Sanjay Gupta: Saddened by the news of Mr. Munde’s death. The unpredictability of life… RIP Gopinathji.

Atul Kulkarni: Pramod Mahajan, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Balasaheb Thakre, Gopinath Munde. MRashtra politics is changing at the hands of death rather than people (sic).

Munde was cremated on Wednesday at his native village of Parli in Beed district of Maharashtra. Eldest daughter and MLA Pankaja Munde lit the pyre of her father. This action which is usually undertaken by a male was seen by many as a symbol of her filling up her father’s shoes.

Tens of thousands of people swarmed to the leader’s funeral. One of BJP’s biggest mass leaders, Munde was considered by many to be the architect of the win of 2014 elections. Even though Munde swore in as a minister he was yet to swear in as a member of the parliament.

Photos: Internet

Tathagata Mitra

 2nd MA Mass Communication