Former US President Jimmy Carter, a friend of India, passes away at 100

He was the third American leader to visit India during which a village in Haryana was named Carterpuri in his honour

Washington: Jimmy Carter, the 39th US President and the third American leader to visit India during which a village in Haryana was named Carterpuri in his honour — has died peacefully at his home in Plains, Georgia surrounded by his family, the Carter Centre said.

Carter died on Sunday aged 100. He was the longest-lived President in US history. “Today, America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian,” President Joe Biden said in a statement mourning his loss.

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Carter is survived by his children — Jack, Chip, Jeff, and Amy; 11 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife Rosalynn and one grandchild.

“My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love. My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honouring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs,” Chip Carter said.

In his statement, Biden said over six decades, with his compassion and moral clarity, Carter worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among the people. He saved, lifted, and changed the lives of people all across the globe.

President-elect Donald Trump said while he “strongly disagreed” with Carter “philosophically and politically”, he also realised that he truly loved and respected “our country, and all it stands for”. “He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect. He was a truly good man and, of course, will be greatly missed. He was also very consequential, far more than most Presidents, after he left the Oval Office,” Trump said.

Carter was considered a friend of India. He was the first American President to visit India after the removal of emergency and victory of the Janata Party in 1977. In his address to the Indian parliament, Carter spoke against authoritarian rule.

“India’s difficulties, which we often experience ourselves and which are typical of the problems faced in the developing world, remind us of the tasks that lie ahead. Not the Authoritarian Way,” Carter said on January 2, 1978.

“But India’s successes are just as important because they decisively refute the theory that in order to achieve economic and social progress, a developing country must accept an authoritarian or totalitarian government and all the damage to the health of the human spirit which that kind of rule brings with it,” he told members of Parliament.

“Is democracy important? Is human freedom valued by all people?… India has given her affirmative answer in a thunderous voice, a voice heard around the world. Something momentous happened here last March, not because any particular party won or lost but rather, I think, because the largest electorate on earth freely and wisely choose its leaders at the polls. In this sense, democracy itself was the victor,” Carter said.