Bhajan Lal

Bhajan Lal (6 October 1930 – 3 June 2011) was a politician and three-time chief minister from the northern Indian state of Haryana. He first became the Chief Minister in 1979, again in 1982 and once again in 1991. He also served as Union Agricultural Minister.

Early life

Bhajan Lal was born on 6 October 1930 in Koranwali village of British India's Bahawalpur princely state, which now lies in Pakistan.^[1][2] He married to Jasma Devi, by whom he had two sons - Chander Mohan and Kuldip Bishnoi - and a daughter, Roshni. He started his career as a trader in Adampur town of Hisar district and later entered into politics from the Adampur (Vidhan Sabha constituency).^[3]

Political career

Bhajan Lal was the chief minister of the Haryana state twice, his first term from 28 June 1979 to 5 July 1985, and his second term from 23 July 1991 to 11 May 1996. He had also served as a union cabinet minister at the centre, holding the Agriculture and Environments & Forest portfolios during Rajiv Gandhi's administration. After Mrs Indira Gandhi came to power in January 1980, Bhajan Lal was Janata Party's CM in Haryana; he immediately defected with a huge chunk of Janata Party's MLAs to Congress and continued as CM. This brazen act made him notorious as an exemplar of 'आया राम गया राम' culture in which opportunist politicians show no loyalty. He consolidated non-Jat vote in his Jat-dominated state, and was the last non-Jat CM of the 20th century. Full 18 years were to pass before BJP's Manohar Lal Khattar became Haryana's first non-Jat CM of 21st century in 2014.

The victory of the Indian National Congress in Haryana's 2005 elections caused a major rift in its state unit, as it opted to make Bhupinder Hooda, a Jat, the Chief Minister instead of Bhajan.^[4] In 2007, Lal officially announced he would form a new party, called the Haryana Janhit Congress. The key event that brought this about was the suspension of his son Kuldeep Bishnoi from the Indian National Congress, for criticizing the party's central leaders.^[5]

2009 Lok Sabha Elections

Bhajan Lal fought election from Hissar and defeated two prominent politicians of Haryana politics, Sampat Singh and Jai Parkash in a high profile battle.

Death

Bhajan Lal died on 3 June 2011 in Hisar following a heart attack.^[6][7]

References

Members of the 15th Lok Sabha from Haryana
Indian National Congress (9)	Selja Kumari Naveen Jindal Arvind Kumar Sharma Deepender Singh Hooda Avtar Singh Bhadana Inderjit Singh Rao Shruti Choudhry Jitender Singh Malik Ashok Tanwar
Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) (1)	Bhajan Lal
14th LS members 16th LS members