V C Shukla succumbs to Naxal attack injuries

Former Union Minister and veteran Congress leader Vidya Charan Shukla died at the Medanta Medicity Hospital in Gurgaon this afternoon, nearly 17 days after Naxals pumped three bullets in his body on May 25.

Shukla (84) died at 2:38 pm, said Yatin Mehta, chairman of the Institute of Critical Care and Anaesthesiology at Medanta.

He said Shukla had developed multi-organ failure. Severe bullet injury and old age were major risk factors in his case, Mehta said.

Shukla was part of the Congress convoy that was ambushed by Naxals in the Darba forest of Bastar district on May 25. Twenty seven people, including Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh, Congress leader Mahendra Karma and ex-MLA Uday Mudaliyar were killed in the attack and 36 others, including Shukla, injured.

Even after receiving serious injuries, Shukla did not give up and struggled on the spot, enquiring about other Congress leaders and workers. He was later shifted to the Maharani hospital in Jagdalpur.

Sandeep Dave, a surgeon from Raipur, who was in the Maharani hospital, recalled how Shukla told doctors his blood group, which helped in starting the treatment immediately. “It was only his will power that made him survive for 17 days even after receiving three bullets that badly affected his intestines and lungs,” Dave said.

He was airlifted from Jagdalpur. He reached Raipur from where he was shifted to Medanta hospital.

Shukla, son of veteran Congressman Ravishankar Shukla, came into the limelight during the Emergency (1975-77). He was dubbed the architect of media censorship. But nearly two and a half decades later, Shukla admitted that it was not a good decision.

“Media censorship during the Emergency was a big mistake,” Shukla had said in 2000, at the launch of a newspaper in Raipur.

His close associates said it was a bold admission by Shukla, as he took the entire blame upon himself even though the decision had not been taken by him alone.

The man who was instrumental in the expansion of the television and radio network in Chhattisgarh, had probably foreseen his end. “Recently, he built a platform on the backside of his farmhouse, “Radheshyam Bhawan” and wished that his last rites should be performed at the same place,” said Shukla’s aide.

Shukla is survived by his wife and three daughters. His last rites would be performed with full state honours tomorrow. The Chhattisgarh government has declared a three-day state mourning as a mark of respect to the veteran leader.