From war reporting to Parliament: Journalist and BJP veteran RK Sinha passes away at 75

Ravindra Kishore Sinha, the journalist-turned-entrepreneur and former Rajya Sabha member popularly known as RK Sinha, died at his residence in Noida on Friday. He was 75.

A senior BJP leader and founding member of the party, Sinha was also the founder and chairman of SIS Group. His death has prompted condolences from political leaders, business associates and well-wishers.

Sinha began his career in journalism, specialising in crime and political reporting. A graduate in political science and law, he also worked as a war correspondent during the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

He authored Jan Andolan, a research book on the student movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan during the early 1970s.

After the war, Sinha moved into entrepreneurship, founding Security & Intelligence Services (India) Limited in 1974. He started the business from a small rented office in eastern India, with the aim of creating employment opportunities for retired defence personnel. The venture grew into SIS Group, a security and business services company.

Sinha was regarded as a pioneer of India’s private security industry and represented the sector before government bodies on legislative and regulatory matters. He also served as an adviser to the Ministry of Human Resource Development from 1999 to 2004.

His political association with the BJP went back to the Jan Sangh years. He held organisational positions at the state and national levels before being nominated to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar in 2014.

During his parliamentary tenure, Sinha served on committees dealing with home affairs, external affairs, labour and employment, among other subjects.

Political leaders paid tribute to his contributions to journalism, public life and organisational work. The Bihar BJP described his death as an irreparable loss to the party, while the Janata Dal (United) also offered its condolences.

According to family members, his mortal remains will be brought to Patna from Delhi and kept at Annapurna Bhawan in Patliputra, where party workers, supporters and members of the public can pay their respects.