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Manohar Parrikar - the blunt-speaking talented administrator who was always high on josh

Parrikar never shied away from speaking his mind.

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On January 27, 2019, reeling from the vagaries that body is put through after cancer treatment, Parrikar, with a pipe in his nose asked an audience while inaugurating the Mandovi Bridge in Panaji – how’s the Josh? That moment epitomised Manohar Parrikar’s je ne sais quoi, the unique abilities that made him such a successful CM and Defence Minister.

Coming from the land that gave us the phrase susegad, Manohar Parrikar never had what the millennials call ‘chill’.  He was a man who loved to hustle, to take challenges heads on and whether it was as Goa CM or as Defence Minister, a job he was hand-picked for by PM Modi because of his stellar administrative skills.

Read Also: Goa CM Manohar Parrikar passes away - latest updates

Born on December 13, 1955 to Utpal Parrikar and Radhabai Parrikar, Parrikar was quite unlike most politicians of his ilk, always calling a spade a spade, irrespective of the feathers it ruffled. His wife Medha passed away in 2001 after a struggle with cancer and he is survived by his two sons.

Early life

He was educated at IIT Bombay and had two sons with his wife Medha, who passed away from cancer in 2001. Incidentally, Parrikar was the first IIT graduate to become the CM of  state of India. 

An RSS member from a young age, he became a chief instructor for the organisation.  He resumed RSS work in Goa and managed a private business after graduating from IIT Bombay. He then became a local director of the RSS at the age of 26.

Also Read: Manohar Parrikar - the blunt-speaking talented administrator who was always high on josh

Political career

Manohar Parrikar was elected to Legislative Assembly of Goa in 1994.  In October 2000, he became the Chief Minister of Goa for the first time but could not complete his 5 year tenure and was abrupted in February 2002.

He was again elected to power in Goa in June 2002 and again the tenure shut down as four of the BJP MLAs resigned from the house.

Parrikar was again sworn in as Goa Chief Minister in March 2012 but again had to resign from the post and had to move to Delhi in November 2014 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi named Parrikar the Defence Minister of India.

In March 2017, Parrikar resigned as the Union Defence Minister and was sworn in as the 13th Chief Minister of Goa after the governor of the state called him to form government after some tricky results in the 2017 assembly elections.

POSITIONS HELD

1988: He joined BJP after entering politics

 

1994: Elected to the Second Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa for the first time.

 

1994 -2001: General Secretary & Spokesman, Bharatiya Janata Party on the Goa State.

 

24th October 2000 to 27th February 2002: Chief Minister and held portfolios of Home, Personal Finance, General Administration and Education.

June 2002: Re-elected to the Fourth Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa.

5 June 2002: Became the Chief Minister again.

June 2007: Re-elected to the Fifth Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa. Leader of the Opposition.

March 2017 - Parrikar takes oath as Goa CM for the fourth time 

Tenure  as Defence Minister

Parrikar steered the Defence Ministry through a string of high-profile acquisitions of weaponry, many of which had been in limbo for years. Among these was the long-delayed MMRCA project which was resolved with the purchase agreement for 36 Dassault Rafale fighter jets.

Parrikar has also overseen a fundamental shift in the military relationship between India and the US, with the signing of a pact that gives both countries access to each others' military facilities for logistical purposes.

Stoking a controversy, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar questioned India’s No First Use (NFU) policy on nuclear weapons but then said that “this is my thinking” and the nuclear doctrine “has not changed” under any government. Speaking in New Delhi at the launch of Brigadier (retd) Gurmeet Kanwal’s book ‘The New Arthashastra’, Parrikar said: “Why a lot of people say that India has No First Use policy. Why should I bind myself to a… I should say I am a responsible nuclear power and I will not use it irresponsibly…”

 

Compiled by DNA – Research N Archives

 

 

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