Charan Singh

Chaudhary Charan Singh
चौधरी चरण सिंह

Charan Singh

Charan Singh in 1978
5th Prime Minister of India
In office
28 July 1979  14 January 1980
President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Deputy Yashwantrao Chavan
Preceded by Morarji Desai
Succeeded by Indira Gandhi
Minister of Finance
In office
24 January 1979  28 July 1979
Prime Minister Morarji Desai
Preceded by Haribhai Patel
Succeeded by Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna
3rd Deputy Prime Minister of India
In office
24 March 1977  28 July 1979
Serving with Jagjivan Ram
Prime Minister Morarji Desai
Preceded by Morarji Desai
Succeeded by Yashwantrao Chavan
Minister of Home Affairs
In office
24 March 1977  1 July 1978
Prime Minister Morarji Desai
Preceded by Kasu Brahmananda Reddy
Succeeded by Morarji Desai
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
In office
3 April 1967  25 February 1968
Governor Biswanath Das
Bezawada Gopala Reddy
Preceded by Chandra Bhanu Gupta
Succeeded by President's rule
In office
18 February 1970  1 October 1970
Governor Bezawada Gopala Reddy
Preceded by Chandra Bhanu Gupta
Succeeded by President's rule
Personal details
Born Chaudhary Charan Singh
(1902-12-23)23 December 1902
Noorpur, United Provinces, British India (now in Uttar Pradesh, India)
Died 29 May 1987(1987-05-29) (aged 84)
New Delhi, India
Political party Janata Party (Secular) (1979–1987)
Other political
affiliations
Indian National Congress (Before 1967)
Bharatiya Lok Dal (1967–1977)
Janata Party (1977–1979)
Spouse(s) Gayatri Devi (died in 2002)
Children Satya Wati, Ved Wati, Gyan Wati, Saroj Verma, Ajit Singh, Sharda Singh
Alma mater Agra University

Chaudhary Charan Singh (23 December 1902 – 29 May 1987) was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, serving from 28 July 1979 until 14 January 1980. Historians and people alike frequently refer to him as the 'champion of India's peasants.'[1]

Charan Singh was born in a Jat[2][3] family in 1902 in village Bhadola of Ghaziabad District in Uttar Pradesh[4][5] Charan Singh entered politics as part of the Independence Movement motivated by Mohandas Gandhi. He was active from 1931 in the Ghaziabad District Arya Samaj as well as the Meerut District Indian National Congress for which he was jailed twice by the British. Before independence, as a member of Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces elected in 1937, he took a deep interest in the laws that were detrimental to the village economy and he slowly built his ideological and practical stand against the exploitation of tillers of the land by landlords.

Between 1952 and 1967, he was one of "three principal leaders in Congress state politics."[6] He became particularly notable in Uttar Pradesh from the 1950s for drafting and ensuring the passage of what were then the most revolutionary land reform laws in any state in India under the tutelage of the then Chief Minister Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant; first as Parliamentary Secretary and then as Revenue Minister responsible for Land Reforms. He became visible on the national stage from 1959 when he publicly opposed the unquestioned leader and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's socialistic and collectivist land policies in the Nagpur Congress Session. Though his position in the faction-ridden UP Congress was weakened, this was a point when the middle peasant communities across castes in North India began looking up to him as their spokesperson and later as their unquestioned leader. Singh stood for tight government spending, enforced consequences for corrupt officers, and advocated a "firm hand in dealing with the demands of government employees for increased wages and dearness allowances."[7] It is also worth noting that within the factional UP Congress, his ability to articulate his clear policies and values made him stand out from his colleagues.[8]

Following this period, Charan Singh defected from the Congress on April 1, 1967, joined the opposition party, and became the first non-Congress chief minister of UP.[9] This was a period when non-Congress governments were a strong force in India from 1967-1971.

As leader of the Bharatiya Lok Dal, a major constituent of the Janata coalition, he was disappointed in his ambition to become Prime Minister in 1977 by Jayaprakash Narayan's choice of Morarji Desai, not to seek power for himself but to enable him implement his revolutionary economic programs in the interest of the rural economy. Unfortunately, few amongst his rural-based party members had the intellectual heft to fully comprehend his wide-ranging agenda to remake Indian society and economy, and this weakness dogged him his entire career specially in Delhi. Urban intellectuals were mostly beholden to either the communist / socialist models, or were neo-liberal and capitalist and hence looked askance at his uniquely Indian solution.

During 1977 Lok Sabha Elections, the fragmented opposition united a few months before the elections under the Janata Party banner, for which Chaudhary Charan Singh had been struggling almost single-handedly since 1974. It was because of the efforts of Raj Narain that he became Prime Minister in the year 1979 though Raj Narain was Chairman of Janata Party-Secular and assured Charan Singh of elevating him as Prime Minister, the way he helped him to become Chief Minister in the year 1967 in Uttar Pradesh. However, he resigned after just 24 days in office since Indira Gandhi's Congress Party withdrew support to the government. Charan Singh said he resigned because he was not ready to be blackmailed into withdrawing Indira Gandhi's emergency-related court cases.[10] Fresh elections were held six months later. Charan Singh continued to lead the Lok Dal in opposition till his death in 1987.

Early years – pre-Independence India

Charan Singh's ancestor was a prominent leader of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Raja Nahar Singh of Ballabhgarh, Greater Panjab (in present-day Haryana). Nahar Singh was sent to the gallows in Chandni Chowk, Delhi. In order to escape the oppression from the British Government following their defeat, the Maharaja's followers, including Charan Singh's grandfather moved eastward to district Bulandshaher in Uttar Pradesh.

Charan Singh was born on 23 December 1902 in the village of Bhadola, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. He was a good student, and received a Master of Arts (MA) degree in 1925 and a law degree in 1926 from Agra University. He started practice as a civil lawyer at Ghaziabad in 1928.

In February 1937 he was elected from the constituency of Chhaprauli (Baghpat) to the Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces at the age of 34. In 1938 he introduced an Agricultural Produce Market Bill in the Assembly which was published in the issues of The Hindustan Times of Delhi dated 31 March 1938. The Bill was intended to safeguard the interests of the farmers against the rapacity of traders. The Bill was adopted by most of the States in India, Punjab being the first state to do so in 1940.

Charan Singh followed Mahatma Gandhi in non-violent struggle for independence from the British Government, and was imprisoned several times. In 1930, he was sent to jail for 6 months by the British for contravention of the salt laws. He was jailed again for one year in November 1940 for individual Satyagraha movement. In August 1942 he was jailed again by the British under DIR and released in November 1943.

Independent India

Charan Singh opposed Jawaharlal Nehru on his Soviet-style economic reforms, and he helped transform the agricultural economy of North India after 1947.[11] Charan Singh was of the opinion that cooperative farms would not succeed in India. Being a son of a farmer, Charan Singh opined that the right of ownership was important to the farmer in remaining a cultivator. He wanted to preserve and stabilize a system of peasant proprietorship.[12] Charan Singh's political career suffered due to his open criticism of Nehru's economic policy.

Charan Singh left the Congress party in 1967, and formed his own political party, Bharatiya Kranti Dal. With the help and support of Raj Narain and Ram Manohar Lohia, he became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1967, and later in 1970. In 1975, he was jailed again, but this time by then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, daughter of his former rival Nehru. She had declared the state of emergency and jailed all her political opponents. In the 1977 general elections, the Indian populace voted her out, and the opposition party, of which Chaudhary Charan Singh was a senior leader came into power. He served as Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister in the Janata government headed by Morarji Desai.

Charan Singh died on 29 May 1987, survived by his wife Gayatri Devi (who died in 2002) and six children.

Personal life

Former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh in Jat attire.

He had six children with wife Gayatri Devi. His son Ajit Singh is currently the president of a political party Rashtriya Lok Dal and a former Union Minister and a many times Member of Parliament. Ajit Singh's son Jayant Chaudhary was elected to 15th Lok Sabha from Mathura, which he lost to Hema Malini in the election of 2014.

Legacy

Since his death, many who knew Singh have ensured his life and work are remembered positively.[13] These perceptions enforce the notion that he was of a "higher category of leaders" in the areas of "intellect, personal integrity, and . . . coherence of his economic and social thought."[14] His association with causes dear to farming communities in India caused his memorial in New Delhi to be named Kisan Ghat (in Hindi, Kisan is the word for farmer). His birthday on 23 December is celebrated as Kisan Diwas in Uttar Pradesh. A commemorative postage stamp was issued by the government of India on the third death anniversary (May 29, 1990) of Charan Singh.

The Amausi Airport in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh was renamed Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport after him, and the University of Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh, India, was also named Chaudhary Charan Singh University in his honour. A college in Etawah district, Chaudhary Charan Singh Post Graduate College is also named after him. A hospital in Bulandshahr district is named after him.

Books

Notes

  1. Byres, Terence J. (1988-01-01). "Charan Singh, 1902–87: An assessment". The Journal of Peasant Studies. 15 (2): 139–189. ISSN 0306-6150. doi:10.1080/03066158808438356.
  2. http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/chaudhary-charan-singh-birthday-declared-as-a-public-holiday-45365.html
  3. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jind/Two-more-khaps-extend-support-to-Jats-Adhikar-Rally-on-Dec-23/articleshow/50261555.cms
  4. The Churchill Centre (2002). "India: Making headway with the critics". The Churchill Centre. Archived from the original on 23 June 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-11. External link in |publisher= (help)
  5. Rediff.Com (27 November 2003). "The anti-reservation man". Rediff.Com. Retrieved 2006-11-18. External link in |publisher= (help)
  6. Brass, Paul R. (1993-01-01). "Chaudhuri Charan Singh: An Indian Political Life". Economic and Political Weekly. 28 (39): 2087–2090.
  7. Brass, Paul R. (1993-01-01). "Chaudhuri Charan Singh: An Indian Political Life". Economic and Political Weekly. 28 (39): 2087–2090.
  8. Brass, Paul R. (1993-01-01). "Chaudhuri Charan Singh: An Indian Political Life". Economic and Political Weekly. 28 (39): 2087–2090.
  9. Brass, Paul R. (1993-01-01). "Chaudhuri Charan Singh: An Indian Political Life". Economic and Political Weekly. 28 (39): 2087–2090.
  10. "Charan singh resigns". The Glasgow Herald. 21 August 1979. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  11. Brass, Paul R. (1993-01-01). "Chaudhuri Charan Singh: An Indian Political Life". Economic and Political Weekly. 28 (39): 2087–2090.
  12. Brass, Paul R. (1993-01-01). "Chaudhuri Charan Singh: An Indian Political Life". Economic and Political Weekly. 28 (39): 2087–2090.
  13. Brass, Paul R. (1993-01-01). "Chaudhuri Charan Singh: An Indian Political Life". Economic and Political Weekly. 28 (39): 2087–2090.
  14. Brass, Paul R. (1993-01-01). "Chaudhuri Charan Singh: An Indian Political Life". Economic and Political Weekly. 28 (39): 2087–2090.

References

Political offices
Preceded by
Chandra Bhanu Gupta
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
1967–1968
Succeeded by
Chandra Bhanu Gupta
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
1970
Succeeded by
Tribhuvan Narain Singh
Preceded by
Morarji Desai
Deputy Prime Minister of India
1977–1979
Served alongside: Jagjivan Ram
Succeeded by
Yashwantrao Chavan
Preceded by
Kasu Brahmananda Reddy
Minister of Home Affairs
1977–1978
Succeeded by
Morarji Desai
Preceded by
Haribhai Patel
Minister of Finance
1979
Succeeded by
Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna
Preceded by
Morarji Desai
Prime Minister of India
1979–1980
Succeeded by
Indira Gandhi
Chairperson of the Planning Commission
1979–1980
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