Bindeshwari Dubey

Bindeshwari Dubey (14 January 1921 – 20 January 1993) was a freedom fighter and administrator who served as Chief Minister of Bihar between 25 March 1985 and 14 February 1988. He was involved in the nationalisation of collieries in the Chhotanagpur region that was then a part of Bihar (now Jharkhand). He held the portfolios of Law, Justice and Labour in the Union Council of Ministers in Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet. Earlier, he had held offices a state level as Minister of Education, Transport and Health. He was a member of the Seventh Lok Sabha between 1980 and 1984, representing the Giridih constituency in Bihar. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1988 until his death. Earlier he had been a member of Bihar Legislative Assembly during 1952-57, 1962–77 and 1985-88.

Early life

Bindeshwari Dubey was the second of four sons born to a poor family in the village of Mahuaon, Bhojpur, Bihar. His father, Shiv Naresh Dubey, was a peasant and despite showing promise in school, Dubey's education was not considered important. This caused him to run away to Patna, where he lived with his maternal uncle and continued his studies at St. Michael School. After his matriculation he worked on night-shifts in a factory as well as continuing to offer tuition to people as he had done during his school days in order to fund his education. He was eventually offered a place at the engineering college in Patna.

He married Shiv Shakti and they had four daughters.

Quit India Movement

Dubey left his engineering studies to join the freedom movement. He has also participated in Quit India Movement in 1942.^[1] He encouraged members of his village to join the movement for independence of India and was among a group who set fire to the railway station at Patna, which resulted in him having to escape the attentions of the police by moving to Bermo, where he eventually got a job in a private colliery.

Chief Minister of Bihar

Dubey was a member of Bihar Legislative Assembly for five periods as a representative of the Bermo constituency, being 1952-57, 1962–67, 1967–69, 1969–72, 1972-77. Between 1985-88 he was again a member, this time for the Shahpur constituency.

He was variously minister of education, transport and health in the state of Bihar. He became Chief Minister on 25 March 1985 and held the post until 14 February 1988, gaining a reputation as a good organiser and motivator.^[1][2] However, his Chief Ministership was controversial and there were accusations of genocide and corruption.^[2] He launched the 'Operation Black Panther' in Champaran to free the area from the criminals and other anti-social elements. He also launched 'Operation Siddhartha' and 'Mafia Trial' to combat the MCC terrorist group and the Coal Mafias of Dhanbad, respectively.^[3]

Indian National Congress

He became the President of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee in 1984 and resigned from it when he became the 21st Chief Minister of Bihar.^{[citation needed]} Earlier he also served the party as a Hazaribag District Congress Committee President.^{[citation needed]}

National offices

Dubey was a member of the Seventh Lok Sabha between 1980-1984 as a representative of the Giridih constituency in Bihar.^[1][4][5]

He was Union minister for law and justice between 14 February - 26 June 1988,^[6][7][8] after which he was minister of labour until 1 December 1989.^[9]

He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1988 until his death.

Trade Unionism

Dubey was closely connected with the trade union movement in the coal, steel, engineering, power and sugar industries. He was also closely associated with Indian National Trade Union Congress and became its national president in 1981, having previously been a state president. He was also the president of many other labour unions, such as the Rastirya Colliery Mazdoor Sangh (RCMS), the Indian National Mineworkers Federation (INMF), Bokaro Steel Workers Union etc. He campaigned for better wages and working conditions for coal miners, visiting many countries like West Germany, U.K., Belgium, Holland, France, Yugoslavia, Switzerland and Japan to acquaint himself with employment conditions in mines and factories. He represented the country at many international labour conferences and seminars. He attended: (i) 7th session of Coal Mines Committee of I.L.O. in the year 1959 at Geneva. (ii) I.L.O. seminar on Trade Union, Industrial Relations & Productivity in the year 1982 at Tokyo.

See also

• List of Chief Ministers of Bihar

References