Dr RAGHUVANSH PRASAD SINGH WAS A GRASS-ROOT POLITICIAN AND ICON OF SIMPLICITY ADMIRED BY ALL

Bureau,Odishabarta

DELHI:In present political scenario, there are very few political personalities who are admired and respected by fellow politicians cutting across party-lines. It is noteworthy that even Bihar government decided to do special honour to him after his death through several steps even though he belonged to opposition camp. Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh could not tolerate political nuisance of any type sending his resignation from his party Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) just three days before his death, and the party supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav subsequently declining to accept the resignation from his most trusted and spotless colleague.

His sober village-style living could not make ordinary persons think that he was a doctorate in Mathematics, and his PhD was not some honour at times given by universities to flatter political rulers even though the honoured one might be some illiterate or less educated not deserving honorary degree of doctorate.

People do remember him as architect of much-talked about MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), but very few know that he was the politician who was really helpful at all times in getting Right-To-Information (RTI) Act legislated, even though people usually consider the transparency Act as gift of dynastic Congress. But Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh never boasted about his role in legislation of RTI Act.

Input;Subash