Gurudas Kamat (5 October 1954 – 22 August 2018) was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

politician from the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

(INC). An advocate by profession, Kamat was a commerce graduate from R.A. Podar College,

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

and has a law degree from the

Government Law College, Mumbai The Government Law College, Mumbai, (GLC Mumbai), founded in 1855, is the one of the oldest law schools in Asia. The college, affiliated to the University of Mumbai, is run by the Government of Maharashtra. Bal Gangadhar Tilak ,Pratibha Pa ...

. He was a Member of the Parliament for the Mumbai North West constituency of Maharashtra in 2009 and Mumbai North East constituency of Maharashtra in 1984, 1991, 1998 and 2004. He served as the Minister of State for Home Affairs with additional charge of Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India during 2009 to 2011. In July 2011, he resigned as minister. In July 2013, Kamat was appointed General Secretary

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...

and given charge of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

Dadra and Nagar Haveli Dadra and Nagar Haveli is a district of the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in western India. It is composed of two separate geographical entities: Nagar Haveli, wedged in between Maharashtra and Gujarat states t ...

Daman and Diu Daman and Diu (; ) was a former union territory in northwestern India. With an area of , it was the smallest administrative subdivision of India on the mainland. The territory comprised two districts, Damaon and Dio island, geographically s ...

and was also appointed a member of the

Congress Working Committee The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is the executive committee of the Indian National Congress. It was formed in December 1920 at Nagpur session of INC which was headed by C. Vijayaraghavachariar. It typically consists of fifteen members electe ...

, the highest decision making body of the Indian National Congress. In 2014, he lost the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

Election. In 2017, Kamat resigned from all positions that he held at the Indian National Congress. Despite his insistence on resignation the Party continued to acknowledge him as the General Secretary of AICC.

Early life, education and political career

Kamat started his political career as a student leader in 1972. In 1976, he was appointed the President of

National Students' Union of India The National Students Union of India, the student wing of the Indian National Congress (INC or Congress), was established on 9 April 1971. The organisation was founded by Indira Gandhi after merging the Kerala Students Union and the West Beng ...

, Mumbai Unit. In 1980 he was appointed General Secretary of Maharshtra Pradesh Youth Congress; in 1984, he was appointed the President of the Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress; and in 1987, he was appointed the President of the

Indian Youth Congress The Indian Youth Congress is the youth wing of the Indian National Congress party. The Indian Youth Congress was a department of the Indian National Congress from the period just after the Partition of India in 1947 until the late 1960s. While ...

. Kamat was appointed the President of Mumbai Congress in 2003. He held the position till 2008. In 1982, Kamat represented the

at International Convention in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. In 1986, Kamat represented International Youth Festival in Moscow and

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. In 2003, he was a member of the four member delegation representing India at the United Nations in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

along with Atal Bihari Vajpayee,

Inder Kumar Gujral Inder Kumar Gujral (4 December 1919 – 30 November 2012) was an Indian diplomat, politician and freedom activist who served as the 12th prime minister of India from April 1997 to March 1998. Born in Punjab, he was influenced by nationalist ...

and

Farooq Abdullah Farooq Abdullah (born 21 October 1937) is an Indian politician who was Ex. President of Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. He has served as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions since 1982, and as the union minister f ...

. Kamat represented the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, at the UN Convention at Addis Ababa,

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. In 1976, Kamat was awarded the Principal Wellingkar Trophy for the Most Outstanding Student Award at the R.A. Podar College and in 1979 was named a Fellow of Government Law College in Mumbai. In 1981, Kamat married Maharookh Kamat with whom he has one son, Sunil, who is a doctor, an intensivist and a Fellow at Sloan Kettering Memorial,

Death

Gurudas Kamat died at a private hospital in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

on 22 August 2018 following a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kamat, Gurudas Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra 1954 births 2018 deaths India MPs 1984–1989 India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 2004–2009 India MPs 2009–2014 Indian Youth Congress Presidents Politicians from Mumbai Marathi politicians Union Ministers from Maharashtra Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra