Mccain loses battle with cancer

MAVERICK REPUBLICAN 81yearold advocated closer ties with India, was known for his independent views and actions

WASHINGTON: John Mccain, a Republican senator and presidential contender who advocated close ties with India, , died on Saturday, a day after his family announced he had decided to discontinue treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer that was diagnosed last summer. He was 81.

“With the senator when he passed were his wife Cindy and their family,” Mccain’s senate office said in an announcement. “At his death, he had served the United States of America faithfully for sixty years.”

A war hero who endured more than four years of torture at the hands of his captors during the Vietnam War, Mccain served two terms in the House of Representatives and six terms in the Senate, representing Arizona.

Known for fiercely independent views and actions, Mccain earned a reputation for probity and fairness in public life, sometimes going against the party line. During his presidential run in 2008, a woman at a rally called his Democratic rival Barack Obama an “Arab”, to which he famously replied: “No ma’am. He’s a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.”

More recently, Mccain was unsparing in his criticism of President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican, and attacked him on many issues that they disagreed on. Trump’s statement on Mccain’s passing reflected their tense and acrimonious relationship.

“My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John Mccain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!” Trump tweeted.

In Congress, where there is widespread bipartisan support for closer ties with India, Mccain was among the leading voices. “The emergence of a strategic partnership with India has been one of the most consequential bipartisan successes of recent US foreign policy,” he said in a major foreign speech at US think tank Carnegie in November 2010, as then president Barack Obama was on his way to India for the first of his two visits.