Gujarat state assembly speaker Ashok Bhatt passes away

Gujarat assembly speaker Ashok Bhatt, one of the most experienced political leaders in the state, passed away late on Wednesday night. Bhatt was admitted to SAL hospital for the last one month. He died at around 10:45pm on September 29. He was 71.

Dr Nitin Shah, director of SAL Hospital, confirmed Bhatt's demise. "He was suffering from a number of illnesses for the last one month. A team of experts was constantly monitoring his condition and he had started responding to the treatment. However, his health started deteriorating two days back and today, at around 10:45 pm, he died of multiple organ failure."

As news of Bhatt's death spread, people from across the city rushed to the hospital. Residents of Khadia, which is Bhatt's native ward and assembly constituency, thronged the hospital campus on Wednesday night. Many men and women rushed to the hospital in their night dress and could not control their tears on learning of the death of their most loved leader.

Ashok Bhatt and Khadia were like two sides of the same coin. Bhatt had became the identity of Khadia and its mood, and Khadia had become his identity. Ashok Bhatt knew and was known to each and every person in the area by name and place of residence in the pol. He started his public life with Jan Sangh as a labor union leader and built the party's support base in Khadia. He was also one of the founder-members of the BJP in the city. He contested the assembly elections for the first time from Khadia in 1975; after that he never lost from this constituency.

Soon after the announcement of Bhatt's death, both BJP and Congress closed their campaign offices in the Khadia ward. Till then, the offices of bothe parties were open for the upcoming AMC election. Even Congress candidates and workers paid tribute to the departed leader.

The current BJP corporator from Khadia, Mayur Dave, said with tearful eyes, "We feel orphaned by his death. He was like a father to us. He was undoubtedly Khadia's identity, but he also was popular across Gujarat. Just two days back, Gujaratis living in London had organized a special prayer for his recovery. He had visited almost all the 18,000 villages of Gujarat."

Dave said Bhatt was active even in hospital. "He had asked us to bring the list of pending development works in Khadia and had signed on the papers for the disbursement of grants from his MLA fund of Rs. 50 lakh for the work.    

He had also met Kathalal's newly elected MLA and had administered him oath from a wheelchair. He also wrote a letter of appreciation for a nurse who got a job in a government hospital at Khambhat," Dave said.  Dave said that the BJP campaign in Khadia will stop for 3 days.

Chief minister Narendra Modi, who had visited Bhatt in hospital on Wednesday evening, expressed grief at the leader's demise and prayed to God to give courage to his family members in their hour of sorrow.

Ahmed Patel, senior Congress leader of Gujarat and political advisor to Sonia Gandhi, also expressed sorrow over Bhatt's death and paid tribute to the leader.

State ministers Nitin Patel, Pradipsinh Jadeja, Dilip Sanghani, former mayor of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Amit Shah and other BJP leaders rushed to the hospital. After talking to Bhatt's family members, Sanghani told the media that Bhatt's body would be kept at his residence till 9 am on Thursday. By 10:30 am, the body will be taken to the state BJP office and after it will be taken to the state assembly at Gandhinagar. Bhatt's last rites will be performed at Jamalpur crematorium. Bhatt is survived by his wife, Jyotiben, three sons, Pratikbhai, Bhushanbhai and Maulikbhai, daughter, Heenaben, and a number of grandchildren.