Bereaved BJP mourns 'farmer's leader' Gopinath Munde

“After BJP’s victory in the election, we should have been celebrating, but a sudden gloom has descended on our party now,” said BJP worker Mukesh Dayal, echoing a feeling expressed by many like him who had gathered at the BJP headquarters to pay their last respects to Gopinath Munde. The Union Rural Development Minister died of a cardiac arrest following a car accident on Tuesday morning. Sullen and grim faces greeted each other at the Ashoka Road office, which barely two weeks ago was the scene of rapturous celebration following BJP’s sweep of the Lok Sabha polls. [caption id=“attachment_1555027” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PM Narendra Modi meets Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pankaja upon arriving at BJP HQ in Delhi. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost[/caption] The BJP top brass, including party veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, and practically the entire cabinet including Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived to pay their respects to one of their tallest leaders from Maharashtra. Also present was RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. With the union minister’s untimely death, said party workers, the BJP had lost a true mass leader who had endeared himself to the party’s rank and file. “From the time we heard this news, we feel like we have lost a member of our family and a brave soldier of the country… such leaders are not born everyday. This is a huge loss for us,” said Vinod Karothia, a mandal president from New Delhi, shortly after Munde’s body had been taken to the airport. Those who had met and worked with the five time MLA spoke of his connect with grass-root workers and his ability to bring people together. “People from all communities and parties are here today. I am from the Valmiki community. With me here are our brothers from the Muslim community,” said Dayal, president of Valmiki Sena. Disheartened party workers also expressed a feeling of having been robbed of a leader just when he was in position - as Union Rural Development Minister - to create the most impact. “He was a farmer’s leader. This is a huge loss to the farmer community. Who will take his place now? A big void has been created,” said a visibly upset BJP worker. Also among the large crowd that had gathered to catch a last glimpse of the BJP leader were members of the general public. “We had heard a lot about Mundeji. He was a promising and rising leader in the BJP. This is a very bad day for the party. It will not be easy to replace him,” said Gurmeet Singh, a resident of Faridabad. Among those from other parties who also made their way to BJP headquarters today were Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, BJD leader Jay Panda, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and CPI (M) leader Atul Anjan.