A former Union Home Minister and Lok Sabha Speaker, Shivraj Patil, who passed away Friday at the age of 91, was one of the tallest leaders the Congress produced in Maharashtra.
Patil chose to remain active in national politics, while the late Vilasrao Deshmukh, another Congress heavyweight from Latur, handled state politics. However, in the end, Patil’s legacy may be defined to a large extent by his tenure in the Ministry of Home Affairs from May 22, 2004, till his resignation on November 30, 2008, days after the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.
Patil’s tenure as Home Minister covered a turbulent period in internal security that included several high-profile terror incidents and sharp public scrutiny of the ministry’s preparedness and response. His time in the ministry was beset by controversies that damaged his public standing. In mid-September 2008, following the Delhi serial blasts of September 13, television cameras repeatedly showed him in different outfits during the same evening, an image his critics used to suggest a lack of gravitas while a national security crisis unfolded. Patil responded at the time by asking critics to “criticise my policies, not my clothes”.
Then, after the November 26–29, 2008, attacks in Mumbai that provoked nationwide outrage over security lapses, Patil resigned, accepting moral responsibility for the failure.
The fallout from 26/11 continued to shadow him: US diplomatic cables later published via WikiLeaks quoted the American ambassador describing Patil as “spectacularly inept” and saying his removal was inevitable, a characterisation that fed into the narrative of an embattled home ministry.
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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and Congress’s Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra paid rich tributes to Patil.
“The news of the demise of former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Shivraj Patil ji is deeply saddening and an irreparable loss for the party. His dedication to public service and his contributions to the nation will always be remembered,” said Kharge.
Underlining his special bond with Patil, Kharge said, “He was an honoured senior colleague with whom I shared a close bond and many cherished memories. A statesman of great dignity, Shri Patil served the nation with distinction, holding key Constitutional and Parliamentary responsibilities and contributing significantly to India’s Democratic institutions. His demise is a profound loss for the Congress Party and for all who admired his integrity, composure and commitment to public service.”
Expressing grief at his demise, Priyanka Gandhi said, “Shri Patil ji held charge of several important ministries, including the Defence Ministry, and served the people for decades. His passing is an irreparable loss to the Congress family.”
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also condoled Patil’s death. “The news of the demise of senior leader Shivraj Patil Chakurkarji is extremely saddening. While working in various roles such as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Home and Defence portfolios, and Governor, he made a mark with his personality. As the Lok Sabha Speaker, he initiated many innovative programs related to Parliament. He held a position of respect in the country’s politics as a principled, scholarly, and firmly articulating leader. With his passing, we have lost an eminent, guiding leader in politics and social life. He will always be remembered as a personality who upheld the reputation of Maharashtra’s political civility. I offer my heartfelt tributes to him. We share in the grief of his family.”
Latur to Delhi to getting sidelined
Born on October 12, 1935, in Latur’s Chakur, Shivraj Patil-Chakurkar began his political journey in 1967 by winning the Latur municipal council election. He went on to become the Latur City MLA twice in the 1970s.
In 1980, Patil, who was close to the Nehru-Gandhi family, won the Latur Lok Sabha constituency for the Congress and went on to win the seat for seven consecutive terms. In the early years of his national political career, Patil served in the defence ministry. He was the Minister of State for Defence in the Indira Gandhi government from 1980 to 1982, and later handled other related responsibilities in the Union Cabinet, reflecting his long experience across key ministries before his tenure as Home Minister.
Congress leaders in the state said his “dignified conduct” and “strictness” when it came to delegating responsibilities to elected representatives were his well-known traits. Valued in the party for his understanding of Constitutional matters, Patil was also known for maintaining decorum and not indulging in political attacks and counter-attacks, party leaders said.
In 2004, he lost the Lok Sabha polls from Latur to the BJP’s Rupali Patil-Nilangekar, the daughter-in-law of former Maharashtra CM Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar. Following his exit from the Union Cabinet, Patil was appointed Governor of Punjab and Administrator of Chandigarh, taking oath on January 22, 2010 and serving in that post until January 2015.
In later years, he remained a vocal Congress elder but continued to attract controversies. In October 2022, he drew sharp criticism from outfits such as the Hindu Sena over remarks in which he suggested parallels between the concept of “jihad” in Islam and episodes in the Mahabharata and Gita, comments political opponents and some public figures described as offensive and ill-judged, even as the party distanced itself. An FIR was also later registered over the comments.
His daughter-in-law Archana Patil Chakurkar joined the BJP a few years ago and even contested the Maharashtra Assembly elections last year against the Congress’s Amit Deshmukh, Vilasrao Deshmukh’s son, but lost.