Shivraj Patil
Indian politician (1935–2025)

Shivraj Patil
Patil in 2005
27th Governor of Punjab
In office
22 January 2010 – 21 January 2015
President
Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal
Preceded bySunith Francis Rodrigues
Succeeded byKaptan Singh Solanki
14th Administrator of Chandigarh
In office
22 January 2010 – 21 January 2015
President
Preceded bySunith Francis Rodrigues
Succeeded byKaptan Singh Solanki
27th Union Minister of Home Affairs
In office
22 May 2004 – 30 November 2008[1]
President
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
Preceded byLal Krishna Advani
Succeeded byP. Chidambaram
Governor of Rajasthan
In office
26 April 2010 – 12 May 2012
President
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
Chief Minister of RajasthanAshok Gehlot
Preceded byPrabha Rau
Succeeded byMargaret Alva
10th Speaker of Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office
10 July 1991
President
Prime MinisterP. V. Narasimha Rao
DeputyS. Mallikarjunaiah
Leader of the House Lok Sabha
Preceded byRabi Ray
Succeeded byP.A. Sangma
9th Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office
19 March 1990
PresidentRamaswamy Venkataraman
Prime Minister
Speaker of Lok SabhaRabi Ray
Leader of the House Lok Sabha
Preceded byM. Thambidurai
Succeeded byS. Mallikarjunaiah
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
1980–2004
Speaker of Lok Sabha
Preceded byUdhavrao Patil
Succeeded byRupatai Patil Nilangekar
ConstituencyLatur, Maharasthra
15th Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism (India)
Minister of State Independent Charge
Assumed office
25 June 1988
PresidentRamaswamy Venkataraman
Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi
Preceded by
Succeeded byVishwanath Pratap Singh
Union Minister of State (India)
Incumbent
Assumed office
31 December 1984
PresidentRamaswamy Venkataraman
Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi
Ministry & Department
Union Minister of State (India)
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 November 1984
PresidentZail Singh
Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi
Ministry & Department
Union Minister of State (India)
In office
19 October 1980 – 31 October 1984
President
Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi
Ministry & Department
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office
5 July 2004 – 22 January 2010
Chairperson of Rajya Sabha
(Vice President of India)
ConstituencyMaharashtra
8th Speaker of the House
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
In office
17 March 1978 – 6 December 1979
GovernorSadiq Alo
Chief Minister
Preceded byBalasaheb Desai
Succeeded byPranlal Vora
5th Deputy Speaker of the House
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
In office
5 July 1977 – 2 March 1978
GovernorSadiq Ali (freedom fighter)
Chief MinisterVasantdada Patil
Preceded byS. F. P. S. M. Pasha
Succeeded byGajananrao Raghunathrao Garud
Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
In office
1972–1980
Preceded byV.R. Kaldate alias Bapu Kaldate
Succeeded byVilasrao Deshmukh
ConstituencyLatur City
Personal details
Born(1935-10-12)12 October 1935
Chakur, Hyderabad State, British India (present–day Maharashtra, India)
Died12 December 2025(2025-12-12) (aged 90)
Latur, Maharashtra, India
CitizenshipIndia
PartyIndian National Congress
SpouseVijayatai S. Patil
ChildrenShailesh Patil (Son), Late. Swapna Basavaprabhu Patil
ParentVishwanath Patil
Residence(s)Chakur, Latur, Maharashtra, India
EducationBachelor of science, LLB
Alma materOsmania university, Mumbai university
OccupationPolitician

Shivraj Vishwanath Patil (12 October 1935 – 12 December 2025) was an Indian politician. He was the Minister of Home Affairs of India, from 2004 to 2008 and 10th Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1991 to 1996. Patil was Governor of the state of Punjab and Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh from 2010 to 2015.[2] Previously, he served in the Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi cabinets as Minister of Defence during the 1980s.

Patil resigned from the post of Home Minister on 30 November 2008, following widespread criticism raised after 2008 Mumbai attacks, and took moral responsibility for the security lapse that led to the attacks.[3]

Early life

Shivraj Vishwanath Patil Chakurkar was born on 12 October 1935 in the village of Chakur in the Latur district (Marathwada region) of the then princely state of Hyderabad, now Maharashtra, India. He attended Osmania University, Hyderabad, earning a degree in Science and studied law at Bombay University. During 1967–69, he was involved in local government (Latur Municipality). Keshavrao Sonawane and Manikrao Sonawane helped Shivaraj Patil to get his first break to stand from Latur Constituency.[4]

He belonged to the Panchamsali Lingayat community.[5] He married Vijaya Patil in June 1963, and had two children – a son and a daughter – with her.[6] He was also a follower of Sathya Sai Baba.

In state politics

From 1972 to 1980, Patil was legislator of Latur City of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for two terms of 1972 to 1978 and 1978 to 1980 during which time he held various positions such as Chairman of Public Undertakings Committee, Deputy Minister (Law & Judiciary, Irrigation, Protocol), Deputy Speaker of the Assembly and Speaker of the Assembly.

In central politics

In 1980, Patil was elected to the 7th Lok Sabha from Latur constituency. By 1999, he had won seven successive Lok Sabha elections in 1980, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998 and 1999. In the 2004 Lok Sabha election, he lost to Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Rupatai Patil Nilangekar.

In government

Shivraj Patil in his office after taking over the charge of the Union Minister of Home in New Delhi on 24 May 2004. Seen beside him are political leaders from Maharashtra.

First inducted into the Indira Gandhi-led government as Minister of State for Defence (1980–82), he was given independent charge of the Commerce Ministry (1982–83), from where he was shifted to Science and Technology, Atomic Energy, Electronics, Space and Ocean Development (1983–84). During 1983–86, he was vice-president of CSIR India. He also served on various committees including those on Defence, External Affairs, Finance, Salaries and Allowances of members of parliament.

In the Rajiv Gandhi government, he was Minister for Personnel, Defence production and later held independent charge of Civil Aviation and Tourism.

Patil also held a number of important positions in the party after Sonia Gandhi took over the presidency of the party. He is largely known for introducing the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award, India in 1992. He was the chairman of the manifesto committee of the party during the 1999 Lok Sabha election.

As speaker of the Lok Sabha, he began or contributed to initiatives on information dissemination to members of the Parliament (through computerisation and modernisation), construction of the Parliament Library Building and the broadcast of Lok Sabha proceedings, including the live broadcast of Question Hour of both houses of the parliament.

Between 1991 and 1995, he was a member/leader of Indian parliamentary delegations to various international parliamentary conferences.

He became Home Minister in 2004. A former Lok Sabha speaker, Shivraj Patil lost in the 2004 polls from Latur in Maharashtra, but still landed the second most important position in the Union Cabinet—that of the Home Minister. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in July 2004. It is also said if not for losing the election he would have been the Prime Minister, and the reason he lost the election was because his opponent got the sympathy vote for losing a family member who was a mass leader. His tenure as home minister was marred by one debacle after another and he faced increasing calls for his resignation, eventually forcing it due to the mishandling in the events leading up to and after the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Not to be forgotten also are the 2006 Malegaon bombings, at a Muslim graveyard.[7]

United States Ambassador David Mulford in an embassy cable described his removal after the Mumbai terrorist attack as inevitable and called him "inept" and "asleep on the watch".[8][9][10][11][12]

Patil was accused of not sending the Central Reserve Police Force to Nandigram, even after repeated requests by the West Bengal government, to restore law and order in the area and the events resulted in police firing upon and killing men and women in Nandigram.

Patil's name was considered a likely candidate in the 2007 presidential election. However, after the Left opposed his candidacy, Sonia Gandhi proposed Pratibha Patil, Governor of Rajasthan, as the presidential candidate. Shivraj Patil was later considered a possible candidate for the post of Vice-President of India.

On 30 November 2008, just four days after the Bombay blasts, Patil resigned from his position of Home Minister in Union Cabinet taking moral responsibility for the security lapse that led to the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

After 26/11, Shivraj Patil was made the Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator from 2010[13] to 2015.[14]

Controversies

Patil has been criticized for his response to the 2008 Mumbai attacks, as well as for not mentioning them in his 2014 autobiography.[15][16][17][18]

Death

Patil died in Latur, Maharashtra, India on 12 December 2025, at the age of 90.[19][20]

References

  1. ^ Home Minister Shivraj Patil steps down. Ibnlive.in.com. Retrieved on 29 December 2011.
  2. ^ Express News Service (23 January 2010). "Shivraj Patil takes oath as UT Administrator". Indian Express. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  3. ^ Shivraj Patil resigns. Sify.com (30 November 2008). Retrieved on 29 December 2011.
  4. ^ Patil, Shivraj V. (31 May 2014). ODYSSEY OF MY LIFE. Rupa Publications India Pvt. Ltd 2014. ISBN 9788129134271. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  5. ^ Who is Shivraj Patil? Archived 19 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. NDTV.com. Retrieved on 29 December 2011.
  6. ^ "Shri Shivraj Vishwanath Patil". Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). interstatecouncil.nic.in
  7. ^ Blasts kill 37 in India graveyard
  8. ^ "'Inept' Shivraj Patil was protected by Sonia: US cables". Indian Express. 18 December 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  9. ^ "WikiLeaks: US felt removal of Shivraj Patil was inevitable after 26/11". The Times of India. 18 December 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  10. ^ "See 9c of US embassy cables: Indian government heads roll after Mumbai terror attacks". The Guardian. London. 16 December 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  11. ^ "US felt removal of Shivraj Patil after 26/11 was inevitable: WikiLeaks". Daily News and Analysis. 18 December 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  12. ^ "Shivraj Patil spectacularly inept: David Mulford". The Economic Times. 18 December 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  13. ^ "Shivraj Patil takes oath as UT Administrator - Indian Express".
  14. ^ "Punjab Governor Shivraj V Patil retires on completion of five-year term". The Economic Times.
  15. ^ "Patil changes shirts as capital suffers". 15 September 2008.
  16. ^ "Shivraj Patil - Nero reborn". Archived from the original on 25 October 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  17. ^ "Of thick hides and soft underbelly". Archived from the original on 6 February 2017.
  18. ^ "Shivraj Patil airbrushes 26/11 from his autobiography | India News - Times of India". The Times of India. September 2014.
  19. ^ "Former Union home minister Shivraj Patil passes away at 90". The Times of India. 12 December 2025. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
  20. ^ "काँग्रेसचे ज्येष्ठ नेते, माजी केंद्रीय गृहमंत्री शिवराज पाटील चाकूरकर यांचं निधन". Lokmat. 12 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
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