Manohar Gajanan Joshi (2 December 1937 – 23 February 2024) was an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra, who served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999, and Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2002 to 2004. He was one of the prominent leaders of the Shiv Sena, and also one of the Indians to be elected to all of the four legislatures.
Joshi and Bal Thackeray were explicitly named for inciting the Shivsainiks to violence against Muslims during the 1992–1993 riots[citation needed] in an inquiry ordered by the government of India, the Srikrishna Commission Report.[citation needed] However, Joshi, then a part of the BJP-Sena government called the report "anti-Hindu, pro-Muslim and biased" and refused to adopt the commission's recommendations.[10][11]
As Chief Minister, he had permitted the release of a plot of land in Pune, reserved for a school, to a builder with ties to his son-in-law, Girish Vyas.[12] A housing complex, named Sundew, was built on that land by Vyas in 1998. Sustained legal efforts by Vijay Kumbhar, an RTI activist from Pune,[13] led to Joshi's resignation in January 1999. In March 2009, Bombay High Court passed a verdict calling the housing complex illegal.[14] The Supreme Court of India upheld the verdict in 2011 and fined Joshi Rs 15,000.[citation needed] Following its order, the building is now being used for a school.[15]
Lok Sabha and Speaker
Joshi was promoted to the Lok Sabha when he won in Central Mumbai in the 1999 General Elections.[16] He was the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2002 to 2004 during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) administration.[16]
Joshi was elected for a six-year term to the Rajya Sabha on 20 March 2006[17] after being defeated in the previous Lok Sabha election in the Central Mumbai constituency.[citation needed]
National Legislator Conference
In September 2022, Manohar Joshi was appointed a key patron of NLC Bharat.[18]
Death
Manohar Joshi died in Mumbai on 23 February 2024, at the age of 86.[citation needed] He had suffered a cardiac arrest a day earlier and been placed in Hinduja hospital's intensive care unit[citation needed], dying the next day of age-related health complications.[19]
^"The Shiv Sena indicted". Frontlineonnet.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2013. The Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party Government in Maharashtra has rejected the core of the report, which was presented before the two Houses of the legislature on August 6 along with a memorandum of action to be taken thereon. The Action Taken Report (ATR), seeks to establish that the report is one-sided. Going further, Chief Minister Manohar Joshi termed the report "anti-Hindu, pro-Muslim and biased."
^Smita Narula (1999). Broken People: Caste Violence Against India's "untouchables". Human Rights Watch. ISBN1564322289. Archived from the original on 25 February 2024. Retrieved 19 March 2018. The reports findings were presented to the government of Maharashtra on February 16, 1998, more than five years after the riots took place. The report determined that the riots were the result of a deliberate and systematic effort to incite violence against Muslims and singled out Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray and Chief Minister Manohar Joshi as responsible. The Shiv Sena-BJP government, however, refused to adopt the commission's recommendations and instead labeled the report anti-Hindu.
