Rupani was flying to London to be with kin

In a tragic turn of fate on Thursday, former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, travelling to London to join his family, died along with other passengers in the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad.

Rupani (68), the BJP in-charge for Punjab and Chandigarh, had stayed back in the state for overseeing the ongoing campaign for Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll and was finally going to London to be with his family.

Rupani’s daughter is settled in London and his wife Anjali and son had flown to the British capital earlier for a vacation.

“Vijaybhai Rupani is feared dead. But the official announcement will only be made once his family arrives in Ahmedabad and DNA matching confirms his identity. Rupani Bhai’s family has already started back from London and will be in Ahmedabad by tomorrow,” Yagnesh Dave, BJP Gujarat spokesperson, told The Tribune even as condolences poured in for the former Gujarat CM.

Condoling Rupani’s demise, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said he was a highly dedicated RSS and BJP worker. “I knew Vijaybhai and his wife Anjali from the days of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad where they were senior members. His demise is a huge setback to the BJP and personally to me. The crash is humungous tragedy,” Chugh, who hails from Amritsar and worked closely with Rupani, told The Tribune.

Chugh, the first BJP office-bearer to condole Rupani’s demise, wrote on Facebook: “Rupani was not just a politician, but like an elder brother to me. The affection, guidance and organisational discipline he gave is a priceless heritage of my political life. Today the country has lost not only a senior leader, but a spiritual guide.”

Mild-mannered Rupani rose through the ranks in the RSS-BJP family to become the 16th CM of Gujarat from August 7, 2016, to September 13, 2021. He succeeded Anandiben Patel as Chief Minister of state and was Rajya Sabha MP from 2006 to 2012.

The former CM began his career as a student leader and participated in Gujarat’s famous Navnirman Andolan, a socio-political agitation in 1974 by students and middle class against food insecurity, economic crisis and corruption in public life.

The movement against then Chief Minister Chimanbhai Patel’s government led to the resignation of 95 out of 168 Gujarat MLAs.

Rupani later joined Jayaprakash Narayan-led anti-graft movement under Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti and in 1975, at the height of the Emergency, served a year in Bhavnagar jail.

The former Rajkot BJP city general secretary served as state BJP chief and later CM, earning a reputation for his organisational skills. He was considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

After demitting Gujarat CMO in 2021, Rupani was named BJP in-charge for Punjab and Chandigarh, a position he held till his last breath.

The Gujarat BJP strongman’s last message on social media is a repost of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on farmers’ welfare under the BJP-led NDA government. This was five days ago.