Jairam Ramesh pays respects to Manohar Parrikar, harkens back to their time at IIT Bombay

Former Union Minister and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has condoled the demise of Goa Chief Manohar Parrikar who passed away on Sunday at the age of 63 after an over year-long battle with Pancreatic Cancer.

While they represented different parties, Jairam Ramesh and Manohar Parrikar shared a common origin, both having studied together at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay). In his tribute, Jairam Ramesh has shared memories of their time together in college.

Ramesh writes on Twitter, "My memories of Manohar Parrikar go back to the mid-1970s when both of us were at IIT Mumbai and he was three years my junior there. Our paths crossed again in 2002 when we were jointly conferred the Distinguished Alumnus Award."

He goes on to write about how they remained in touch despite the political divide:

"Thereafter we kept in touch setting aside our respective political affiliations."

Jairam Ramesh proceeds to remember Manohar Parrikar's sense of humour harkening back to conversations they'd had over the years and laments that the four-time Goa Chief Minister had many years of public service left in him:

Earlier, BJP MP Dr Subramanian Swamy had also remembered Manohar Parrikar as an IIT Bombay student, sharing a story of how they'd first met when Parrikar had been Dr Swamy's booth agent when the latter had contested and won the Mumbai North East Lok Sabha seat as a Janata party candidate in 1977 and 1980.

India is observing a day of national mourning on March 18 on account of the former union Defence Minister's demise, with the state of Goa to observe a week's mourning. His last rites are set to be performed at 5 pm on Monday, with the Prime Minister and other senior central ministers set to attend.