Manohar Parrikar was an Indian politician who served people until his final breath. He was 4 time Chief Minister of Goa, and also was handpicked by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi to be Defence Minister of India.
Facts about Manohar Parrikar
- He was the first IIT alumnus to serve as MLA of an Indian state, one of the very few educated politicians. Parrikar graduate in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1978.
- He became the chief instructor for RSS when he was in the final years of his college.
- His political career kicked off in 1994 when he became the Member of Legislative Assembly in Goa. Parrikar became the leader of opposition in 1999, and served as chief minister of Goa between 2000 to 2005. He was sworn again in 2012 but tender his resignation in November 2014 to become Defence Minister of India. Parrikar again became the Goa CM once again in March 2017.
- The 2016 surgical strike against Pakistan based terror groups in PoK was carried out during Parrikar’s tenure as defence minister.
- Parrikar had a unique simple dressing sense. Whether in office as Chief Minister or Defence Minister or be it attending his sons wedding, he always wore a trademark half-sleeved bush shirt, trousers and simple footwear.
- As a man in public office he enjoyed benefits like house and luxury travel, but he rejected them all. He stayed at his own house in Goa as Chief Minister, traveled in economy class, used rickshaws and bikes to travel within Goa.
- He is believed to be a workaholic, and was known for working for close to 16 – 18 hours a day.