NEW DELHI: Veteran Indian politician and the man who praised Jinnah, Jaswant Singh, has passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest at 82,\u00a0The News<\/i>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n
Singh, who had held multiple portfolios during the previous Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) governments,\u00a0was admitted to the hospital on June 25 due to multiple ailments, according to a statement by an Indian army-run hospital<\/p>\n
The former Indian foreign minister had initially joined as an officer in the army but resigned in the 1960s to pursue a career in politics. He was among the founding members of the current ruling Hindu nationalist ruling party, the BJP.<\/p>\n
Singh had been elected to the Indian parliament nine times and served as minister for defence, finance, and external affairs when the BJP came to power from 1998 to 2004.<\/p>\n
In 2009, he was expelled from the party for praising the founder of Pakistan, Muhammed Ali Jinnah, in his book,\u00a0Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence<\/i>. Though he was let back in later, he distanced himself from the BJP in 2014 and unsuccessfully stood for election as an independent candidate.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences over Singh\u2019s death in a series of tweets, saying he “will be remembered for his unique perspective on matters of politics and society\u201d.<\/p>\n