Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Sunday mourned the death of eminent lawyer and RJD's Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmal, who passed away this morning at 95.
"He was a fearless speaker who used to speak his mind without worrying about the official party line. In today's day and age there are very few people of his era who are as active and vocal as he was. He was indeed one of the last great politicians of his era," Singh told here.
Jethmal had served as Union Law Minister and Union Urban Development Minister in the then NDA government led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
A former chairman of the Bar Council of India, Jethmal was described as a doyen of criminal law and had fought several high-profile cases including that of stockbroker Harshad Mehta and former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.
One of the highest-paid lawyers, he had announced his retirement from the active practice of law in September 2017.
Speaking about the revocation of Article 370, Singh hailed the government's decision and methods employed to serve the purpose while targeting the Opposition.
"It is indeed saddening that since 1947 Pakistan has never behaved like a good neighbour but what is worse is that the politicians in India, be it separatist leaders from the Kashmir Valley or national level politicians like Rahul Gandhi and others keep on giving fuel to Pakistan over the Kashmir issue," Singh said.
"But the government has tried and succeeded in controlling the situation in the Valley. There is no one in detention in Kashmir, some have locked themselves inside rooms because they are unable to face the public in the Valley," he said.
( With inputs from ANI )