Former Union minister Harmohan Dhawan passes away

Chandigarh, January 27

Harmohan Dhawan (83), a senior politician of the city and former Union minister, breathed his last at a hospital in Mohali around 8:30 pm today. His cremation will take place at the Sector 25 cremation ground at 3 pm on Sunday.

According to one of the members of his staff, Dr Sheenu Aggarwal, the former Union minister had fallen accidentally and fractured his shoulder. He was not keeping well and his recovery was slow too. Lately, he developed a urinary tract infection and was admitted to the hospital three days ago. A surgery was performed on him.

Dhawan, who has been running his own naturopathy venture, Dhawan’s Nature Care, had left the BJP to join AAP in 2018. He then unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha poll from Chandigarh. A resident of Sector 9, he had been a popular face in the villages and colonies of the city. In 1989, he had won the LS poll on the Janta Party’s ticket and was made the Minister of Civil Aviation in the Union Government. He had also gone to jail several times as he pursued various public interests.

He joined the BJP in 2010. Before joining the saffron party, he was associated with the Janata Dal, INLD, Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party. He had also launched his own party, Chandigarh Vikas Manch.

He always fought for downtrodden

Former BJP MP Satya Pal Jain said, “He always fought for the development of the city and its residents, especially the downtrodden sections of society. He was elected to Parliament in 1989, defeating the then Law Minister Jagan Nath Kaushal and became a Union minister. Though the term of that Parliament was cut down to about two years, he left his mark, both as a minister and as an MP.”

Was loved by one and all

HS Lucky, president, city Congress, said, “He will always be remembered as a nice gentleman who left a mark on every person he met. Chandigarh has lost a man who was loved by one and all.”

Bhishma of UT politics

Former city AAP president Prem Garg said, “The demise of Harmohan Dhawan, called Bhishma of the city’s politics, is a big loss to the people of the city, especially for me. Be it the Medical College of Sector 32 or Shastri Market of Sector 22, all became a possibility because of Dhawan Sahib.”