Socialist stalwart leaves behind an unmatched legacy

HT report on Karpoori Thakur's death and tributes that poured in for the socialist icon

- HT Correspondent

Former Bihar chief minister and Lok Dal-B leader Karpoori Thakur, who was one of the inspirations behind the socialist movement in the country over the past four decades, died of a heart attack in Patna on February 17, 1988. He was 68 and is survived by two sons and a daughter. His wife died a few years ago.

Thakur suffered a massive cardiac arrest at his house and died on the way to the hospital. He had his usual morning stroll and dressed after his bath. As he was about to start for Pusa in Samastipur district, he felt a congestion in the throat and went to the bathroom where he collapsed. It was his second heart attack in over two years.

He was rushed to the Indira Gandhi Institute of Cardiology where doctors declared him dead at 9.15am. Chief minister Bhagwat Jha Azad, who was to leave for Delhi to finalise the list of ministers, rushed to the institute to see him, but Thakur had died before that. Several of Azad's colleagues and other opposition leaders also visited the hospital.