Sushil Kumar Modi

Early life and education

Sushil Modi was born on 5 January 1952. He was born to Moti Lal Modi and Ratna Devi. He attended Patna Science College and graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) Botany degree in 1973. He enrolled in the M.Sc. Botany Course at Patna University but left the course midway to join the social movement started by Jai Prakash Narayan.

Modi married Jessie George on 13 August 1986, a Christian Keralite hailing from Mumbai. Modi and Jessy were classmates during their research studies. During this time, they fell in love and decided to get married.

His wife was a college professor, with whom he had two sons, Utkarsh Tathagat and Akshay Amritanshu.

Early political career

Sushil Modi's political career started as a student activist at Patna University. He became the General-Secretary of Patna University Students' Union in 1973, Lalu Prasad Yadav who later came to be his biggest political rival was the president of the union at the time. In 1974, he became a Member of Bihar Pradesh Chaatra (Student) Sangharsh Samiti which spearheaded the famous Bihar Student's Movement of 1974. Modi was arrested five times during JP Movement and the Emergency. He was arrested during the 1974 student movement in Bihar. He challenged the constitutional validity of MISA Act in the Supreme Court of India which resulted in section 9 of the MISA Act being struck down as unconstitutional. He was booked under the MISA and various other acts from 1973 to 1977. During The Emergency, he was arrested on 30 June 1975 and remained in Jail for 19 months continuously.

Modi was appointed the State Secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad after the Emergency. From 1977 to 1986, he held various leadership positions in the ABVP. During his tenure at ABVP he led a movement against the declaration of Urdu as the second language of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Concerned about the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh in the bordering districts of Bihar he raised the issue and after Assam Movement, a movement against illegal migration was launched in Bihar under his leadership.

Political career

In 1990, he joined active politics and successfully contested from Patna Central Assembly (now known as Kumhrar (Vidhan Sabha constituency)). He was re-elected in 1995 and 2000. In 1990, he was made the Chief Whip of the BJP Bihar Legislature Party. From 1996 until 2004 he was the Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly. He filed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Patna High Court against Lalu Prasad Yadav, which was later known as the Fodder Scam. He became a member of Lok Sabha in 2004 representing the constituency of Bhagalpur.

Modi was the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs in a short-lived Nitish Kumar government in 2000. He supported the formation of the State of Jharkhand.

In 2005 Bihar election, NDA came to power and Modi was elected the leader of Bihar BJP Legislature Party. He subsequently resigned from the Lok Sabha and took over as the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar. He was given the Finance Portfolio along with a number of other departments. After NDA victory in 2010 Bihar elections, he continued to be the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar. Modi did not contest the 2005 and 2010 Bihar Assembly elections to be able to campaign for BJP.

In 2017, Sushil Modi was the main player behind the fall of the JDU-RJD Grand Alliance government in Bihar, with his continuous tirade against RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his family for four months over his alleged benami properties and irregular financial transactions.

Sushil Kumar Modi was Nitish Kumar’s deputy Chief Minister for 11 years and the duo was often referred to as Ram-Laxman ki jodi in the political circles of Bihar.

On 8 December 2020, he was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar to fill the vacant seat after Ram Vilas Paswan's death. He became one of the few Indian leaders to have been a member of both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha — both houses of the legislature.

Political views

Modi was opposed to efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in India, describing supporters as "left-liberals” who want to “imitate the West and impose such laws" on the Indian public. Modi argued that legalizing same-sex marriage in India would "cause complete havoc with the delicate balance of personal laws in the country".

Illness and death

On 3 April 2024, Modi revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer six months previously, and would not take part in the BJP’s Lok Sabha campaign for the 2024 general election. He died after a prolonged battle with cancer on 13 May 2024, at the age of 72.  During the Lok Sabha elections, he had revealed his illness on social media .According to Narendra Modi "He has played an invaluable role in the rise and success of BJP in Bihar".

Positions held

References

References

1. (13 May 2024). "Sushil Kumar Modi passes away at 72: All you need to know about the veteran Bihar leader".
2. "Bihar elections: Sushil Modi tops BJP's list of CM probables".
3. (19 July 2011). "Sushil Modi elected new chief of Empowered Committee on GST".
4. (January 27, 2025). "How Sushil Kumar Modi left his mark on Bihar politics: Gentleman politician who helped usher in stability". [[Indian Express]].
5. (4 April 2014). "Upper castes, OBCs, Dalits and BJP".
6. "Sushil Kumar Modi(Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)):(BIHAR) - Affidavit Information of Candidate".
7. (19 November 2017). "No 'band, baaja, baaraat' for SuMo son's wedding".
8. "Political way to nurture love".
9. (18 August 2018). "When Atal Bihari Vajpayee 'refused' to bless Sushil Kumar Modi".
10. (13 October 2017). "Sushil Kumar Modi has a family foothold here". The Hindu.
11. "Cool leaders see off 2012 with relatives Most ministers retire to bed before midnight, Bhim Singh stays up late".
12. (28 July 2017). "ईसाई धर्म से हैं सुशील मोदी की पत्नी, शादी के दिन ऐसे बदली थी किस्मत".
13. "Profile of Shri Sushil Kumar Modi".
14. Profile of Deputy Chief Minister 1971 [http://vidhansabha.bih.nic.in/pdf/Dy%20Cm.pdf] {{Webarchive. link. (16 February 2012 Early Years in Public Life)
15. (7 May 2011). "BJP's Vote Winner Profile of Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar".
16. "Minorities may be allergic to the BJP, but not to me".
17. (27 July 2017). "SuMo: Architect of grand alliance fall".
18. (16 November 2020). "Tarkishore Prasad: BJP's Tar Kishore Prasad, Renu Devi to be Bihar's deputy CMS | Patna News - Times of India".
19. (15 November 2020). "End of the road for Nitish's 'Laxman' in Bihar — Sushil Modi unlikely to return as deputy CM".
20. (7 December 2020). "Sushil Modi gets elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha | India News - Times of India".
21. (2023-03-14). "Indian government opposes same-sex marriage, warns of countrywide 'havoc'". [[The Washington Post]].
22. (2023-10-17). "Same-sex marriage: BJP opposed, MP Sushil Modi said, 'will play havoc with personal laws'".
23. (13 May 2024). "Sushil Kumar Modi passes away at 72: All you need to know about the veteran Bihar leader".
24. (13 May 2024). "Ex-Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi dies, was diagnosed with cancer".
25. "Former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Modi passed away, was suffering from cancer". Prabhat Khabar.
26. (19 April 2018). "No surprises in U.P., Bihar Council polls". The Hindu.
27. (17 June 2013). "JD(U) ends 17-year-old marriage with BJP, Bihar CM axes 11 ministers | India News - Times of India".