Sushil Kumar Modi, a senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, died on Monday night at AIIMS in New Delhi. He was 72.
The veteran leader had been fighting cancer for the previous eight months. According to hospital sources, he died at 9:45 p.m.
Sushil Kumar Modi, a senior BJP leader, died on Monday after a prolonged battle with cancer. Modi, known as the guy who discovered Bihar for the BJP, was Nitish Kumar’s Deputy Chief Minister for 11 years, and the two had an unusual friendship. Even though he has spent decades in politics, Sushil Modi was first hesitant to enter politics.
Sushil Modi, a Patna University science graduate, gave up politics involvement due to botanical concerns. Despite becoming the general secretary of the student union, he was unable to complete his Master’s degree due to his involvement in the JP Movement. Modi joined the RSS in 1977 and has held the top ABVP position three times. Despite being a member of JP Narayan’s Total Revolution movement, Modi chose to remain with the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
Sushil Modi, one of the three most prominent members of the J P Movement, along with RJD chairman Lalu Prasad and chairman Minister Nitish Kumar, was regarded as the tallest BJP leader in Bihar following Kailashpati Mishra.
He is widely regarded with transforming the BJP into a serious force in the state throughout the 1990s, when it emerged as the main opposition party in 1995. He was important of establishing close relationships with NDA ally and JD(U) chairman Nitish, who repeatedly attributed the state’s economic growth to him.
Finally, it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee who persuaded Modi to enter politics. In 1987, Vajpayee attended Sushil Modi’s wedding and encouraged him to get involved in politics.
When the BJP fielded him for the Patna Central seat, a Congress stronghold, he defeated sitting Congress member Akil Haider. He never looked back. From 1996 to 2004, he led the opposition in the state assembly. In 2004, he was elected from Bhagalpur in the Lok Sabha. Modi was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2020 before retiring earlier this year.
In July 2011, Sushil Modi was appointed head of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers in charge of GST implementation.
Sushil Modi, a veteran politician with almost three decades of experience, has held a variety of posts, including MLA, MLC, Lok Sabha, and Rajya Sabha MP. From 2005 to 2013 and again from 2017 until 2020, he was Bihar’s deputy chief minister.
