Former President and Bharat Ratna Pranab Mukherjee passed away Monday at the Army Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi where he had undergone surgery earlier this month. He was 84.
The hospital said he tested positive for COVID-19 after the surgery and his condition was critical. He remained in a coma after the surgery.
The hospital said his health began declining on Monday after a lung infection resulted in septic shock.
“His demise is passing of an era,” the office of Indian President Ram Nath Kovind said in a Twitter post.
Mukherjee served as president from 2012 to 2017, at the end of a long period when the Congress party held power.
Before that, he had been minister of finance, defence and foreign affairs for three separate prime ministers.
Mukherjee was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2019.