He was an exceptional IITian, an exceptional politician and above all, an exceptional human being
Current Affairs: There is a genuine sense of loss and sorrow at the passing of Manohar Parrikar, and not just among political classes. An extremely unassuming and dedicated man, he fought valiantly the pancreatic cancer that was devouring him and bore his immense suffering stoically, much the same way as Steve Jobs did. He continued to serve till the end. It takes the ‘genius’ of Rahul Gandhi to interpret this as a sign of Mr Parrikar blackmailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi because he, Parrikar, apparently had secret Rafale files showing Mr Modi’s culpability.
I was among a very small number of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, class of 1965, to have met and interacted with Manohar Parrikar. I met him at Vadodara airport in December 2012. He was standing behind me in the line for security clearance. He could have easily skipped that as he was the chief minister of Goa then. As is now well-known, he never did that.
My friend Karan Grover, the noted architect, who was Mr Parrikar’s host, introduced us. When Mr Parrikar found out my IIT background and my role in establishing Institute of Rural Management at Anand, he immediately said that I should visit him because he would like me to help him establish an institution of higher professional learning in Goa.
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