It is a year of losses for Indian politics, predominantly for BJP as the party lost several of its stalwarts including former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and former Union Minister Arun Jaitley, in a span of 18 days.Here is a list of politicians India lost in the span of one year.
* Arun Jaitley
Former Union Minister and BJP leader Arun Jaitley died on August 24, 2019 at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. He was 66 years old and was undergoing treatment from the past several weeks and was admitted in the hospital as he complained of restlessness.
* Sushma SwarajFormer Union Minister Sushma Swaraj who passed away due to a cardiac arrest at the age of 67 on August 6, 2019 was also admitted to AIIMS after a downfall in her health. Sushma Swaraj was one of the most loved leaders for whom diplomats from around 50 countries across the globe wrote condolence messages. Her death was a huge loss for our country.
* Babulal GaurFormer Madhya Pradesh CM Babulal Gaur died on August 21, 2019 at a private hospital in Bhopal after ailing for a long time. The BJP leader passed away at the age of 89 due to a cardiac arrest. He was simultaneously also suffering from other illnesses that further deteriorated his health.
* Sheila DixitThe three-time Delhi CM passed away on July 20, at the age of 81. She was the longest-serving Chief Minister and as well the longest-serving chief ministers of any state.
* Manohar ParrikarFormer Goa CM Manohar Parrikar died on March 17, 2019, at the age of 63 after fighting a long battle against cancer. He has been a former Defence Minister in the BJP government and was in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, Delhi, and New York since February 2018.
* Ananth KumarFormer Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Ananth Kumar passed away at the age of 59 on November 12, 2018, at a hospital in Bangalore. The then Congress-led Karnatakagovernment declared three-day mourning across the state as a mark of respect for the BJP stalwart.
* Atal Bihari VajpayeeFormer Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee died last year on August 16 due to a prolonged illness. He was 93 years old and passed away due to complications arising out of UTI which further led him to be on life support to breathe.
* Somnath ChatterjeeA 10-time MP of the Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee passed away on August 13, 2018 at a private hospital in Kolkata. An asthmatic and a diabetic, he was keeping in bad health for the past three years. He was the speaker of the Lok Sabha (House of People) from 2004 to 2009.
* KarunanidhiThe former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister passed away on August 8, 2018. He was known as a strong Indian politician who dominated Tamil Nadu's politics for six decades along with arch-rivals MG Ramachandran and Late J Jayalalithaa. He was ailing from a few years and his health became unstable and critical in the last few days of his existence.
* Jagannath MishraFormer Bihar CM and Minister in the Union Cabinet Jagannath Mishra was a Congress loyalist. He died on August 19, 2019 at the age of 84 years after a prolonged illness in a Delhi Hospital. After his death, the state declared a three-day mourning out of respect for the politician.