Former state minister and two-time TMC MLA, Abani Mohon Joardar passes away at 79

Biswabrata Goswami

KRISHNAGAR, 12 JUNE: Former state minister of correctional home department and two-time Trinamul Congress legislator from Krishnagar North Assembly constituency, Abani Mohon Joardar passed away at his Salt Lake residence early on Friday morning.

He was 79.

Expressing her condolence to the bereaved family members, chief minister Mamata Banerjee in a tweet said, “Very sad at the passing away of party colleague, former Minister & two-time MLA from Krishnanagar Uttar, Abani Mohan Joardar after an illness bravely fought. Served well both in IPS, govt & party. Condolences to his family & friends.”

His body was brought to Krishnagar Town hall at around 5 pm where hundreds of party leaders and workers paid their last respect to Joardar after which it was taken to Nabadwip burning ghat as per his last wish.

At Town hall, the party leaderships – Gouri Dutta, Mahua Moitra, MP from Krishnagar, Ujjal Biswas, state minister of correctional home department, Rikta Kundu, sabhadhipati of Nadia zilla-parishad, Kallol Khan, MLA, Rukbanur Rahman, MLA and others paid their homage.

This apart, the district police officials also paid their last respect to Joardar.

A retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Joardar had joined the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress and was first elected from the Krishnagar north assembly constituency in 2011.

Joardar was also made a minister without any portfolio in the Mamata Banerjee-led state cabinet. He was suffering from kidney related problems for a long time and was undergoing dialysis too, said his son Amitava.

He said, “Yesterday, his condition improved little and I thought that he would be able to take dialysis. But, in the night, he could not take it and subsequently his condition started deteriorating. He finally breathed his last at early hours this morning”.

Responding to a question, he said, “My father was that type of man who was basically unfit in politics. He always used to do work on honesty and clarity and he always tried to maintain these during his life.”

Known as a straight spoken person Joardar was hurt witnessing the internal bickering in the district leadership. He was on a number of occasions seen hitting out a section of the party's top leadership in the district accusing it of nepotism and corruption exploiting their position in the party.