Wagh loses battle for life; breathes his last in South Africa

FLASHBACK
HIS ELECTION
>> To the Goa assembly in 2012 general election from the St Andre Constituency on a BJP ticket
POLITICAL JOURNEY
>> Began in mid-1990s in the Maharashtrwadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and later joined Congress
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PANAJI: Poet, author, playwright, journalist, cartoonist and politician Vishnu Surya Wagh (53) passed away on Friday last in South Africa. He was unwell since August 2016 when he suffered a stroke while serving as a legislator from the St Andre constituency.
His wife Aruna said in a brief statement: "Mr Vishnu Surya Wagh, 53, passed on peacefully on the 8th of Feb in South Africa while he was on a tour to Cape Town and Johannesburg as per his wish and desire."
No sooner the news of his passing away came to be known, messages of condolence and eulogy began flowing in from politicians across the board, literateurs, academicians, media personalities and others.
Wagh suddenly took ill at his Bambolim residence and was rushed to the Goa Medical College where he was diagnosed to have suffered a stroke. He was air-lifted to a super-speciality hospital in Mumbai.
He was brought back to Goa after nearly one year in various private hospitals in Mumbai including the Kokilaben and Hinduja hospitals. Wagh, however, never gained full consciousness.
A firebrand student leader, Wagh was elected General Secretary of the Students Council of the Dhempe College in the 1985-86 academic year when he earned his BSc degree.
A multi-faceted personality, Wagh earned a huge reputation over the years in the literary, journalism and political fields.
His election to the Goa legislative assembly in the 2012 general election from the St Andre Constituency on a BJP ticket was the high point of his political career. He had begun his political innings in the mid-1990s in the MGP and later joined the Congress.
He quit the Congress on the controversial Medium of Instruction issue and joined the BJP on the eve of the 2012 elections.
He is the recipient of a number of awards, mostly in the literary field, including the Bakibab Borkar Award, Mumbai, Yashwantrao Chavan Award, Pune, the Pune Festival Award, Goa Kala Academy Awards, Gomant Vidya Niketan Award, Gomantak Marathi Academy Award and the Goa Ratna Award.
Meanwhile, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat said he was deeply pained by the news of passing away of his friend, poet, orator, actor, writer, ex-MLA & ex-Deputy Speaker Vishnu Surya Wagh. Goa has lost one of the outstanding personality in the field of art & culture. May his soul rest in peace. My condolences to his family, he said.