Dr L.M. Singhvi died of a heart attack on 6 October 2007 in a hospital in Delhi. He was 76. He had been ailing for the past couple of weeks. India'slongest serving High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Singhvi was a prolific author, poet, publicist, linguist, litterateur and patron of art and culture. He was a BJP Member of the Rajya Sabha from 1998 to 2004.
Dr L.M. Singhvi was an eminent jurist, statesman and constitutional expert and an emenent writer from India. He was born in 1931, Jodhpur, Rajasthan,India. He is survived by his wife Kamla Singhvi; son, Congress spokesperson and Rajya Sabha Member Abhishek Singhvi: and daughter, senior advocate Abhilasha.
Dr Singvi was the Member of the Third Lok Sabha from 1962-67. Advocate General of State of Rajasthan from 1972-77. High Commissioner for India in U.K. Conferred Padma Bhushan in 1998. Elected to Rajya Sabha in 1999.
Apart from his distinguished record as a legal expert, Singhvi was associated with a number of institutions and initiatives. A gifted speaker, he could dwell on a vast range of subjects and interests effortlessly. He will be missed in diverse circles given his many interests and the passion with which he pursued those. He was deeply involved in literary and cultural activities, having served as the chairman of the prestigious Bharatiya Jnanpith Trust. Shri Singhvi was also a well acknowledged scholar of Jain history and culture.
Former Prime Minister, Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, described Dr Singhvi as a ?Saraswatiputra? and said he was an eminent jurist, a statesman, a litterateur and a noted exponent of Indian culture. Observing that he had an age-old relationship with shri Singhvi, Shri Vajpayee said he had conceptualised the idea of holding ?Pravasi Bharatiya Divas? to promote interaction with non-resident Indians.
President Smt Pratibha Patil recalled his involvement in nation building. She said in Singhvi'sdeath, ?the nation has lost a prominent constitutional expert, renowned scholar, a distinguished diplomat and an able parliamentarian.?
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said that Singhvi was a ?distinguished jurist, scholar and diplomat.?
Singhvi authored a number of books. Among them ?Freedom on Trial?, ?An Examination of the Human Rights Issues? and ?Democracy and Rule of Law, Towards Global Togetherness, Jurisprudence of Non-Violence? and a volume of poems in Hindi, ?Sandhya ka Suraj?.
Singhvi also conceived the idea of an annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the event organised by the Indian government each January to engage with its 25 million-diaspora spread across 130 countries.
Apart from his work on the diaspora, he was noted for his championship of human rights and led the Indian delegation to the UN Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993.
Singhvi was also president of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague as well as the Commission of Inquiry into Administration of Justice in Trinidad and Tobago.
Elected to the Supreme Court Bar Association for several terms, he was associated with the framing of the constitutions of Bangladesh, Nepal and South Africa. Singhvi was invited by UNDP to advise many countries in Africa on how to sustain and strengthen democracy through rule of law.
While serving as the Indian High Commissioner to the UK between 1991 and 1997 he took many initiatives to improve the bilateral ties by promoting closer academic contacts. He was awarded the Ambassador of Excellence award and also the U Thant peace prize.
