Sahi Ram Bishnoi, a legendary political figure, passed away early Friday morning. He was 105 years old and breathed his last at 4 am in Haryana’s Dabwali.Bishnoi made history in 1957 when he became the first member of the Bishnoi community to be elected to the (undivided) Punjab Legislative Assembly. Running on a Jan Sangh ticket, he won the Abohar seat by a margin of 5,724 votes.Born on January 12, 1922, in the Bahawalnagar state of undivided India (now in Pakistan), Bishnoi was a firsthand witness to the trauma of the 1947 Partition. He was highly educated for his time, holding BA and LLB degrees from colleges in Lahore and Shimla. After moving to India, he became a vocal advocate for the Hindi language movement, an activism that led to a three-month imprisonment in Ferozepur jail.Even in his centenarian years, Bishnoi remained sharp and active. He was known to read newspapers without glasses and maintained a keen interest in modern technology, often expressing a desire to learn how to use a laptop. A farmer by profession, he remained connected to the land and looked after his fields until his final days.In January 2026, Panjab University honored him with a ‘Citation of Honor’, recognizing him as their oldest living alumnus and the oldest former MLA of undivided Punjab.The pain of Partition remained with Bishnoi throughout his life, having lost approximately 5,000 bighas of land in Pakistan. He was a proponent of “Akhand Bharat” (undivided India) and once requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “remove the border with Pakistan and make India one”.