Bhakt Darshan

Bhakt Darshan (1912-1991) served Garhwal as Member of Parliament in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Lok Sabha (India) as well as a Deputy Minister and Minister of State in Lal Bahadur Shastri's and Indira Gandhi's governments.

Early Life

Bhakt Darshan, the youngest son of Gopal Singh Rawat of Musethi tea estate in Garhwal, was born in 1912. In December 1911 the third and last Delhi Durbar was held to commemorate the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India. In their honour Gopal Singh Rawat named his youngest son Raj Darshan, a name which was later changed to Bhakt Darshan when Bhakt Darshan grew up and under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Lal Nehru and Gobind Ballabh Pant joined the Indian Independence Movement that aspired to India's freedom and statehood in the comity of nations.

Education

Educated at Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore's Visva-Bharati University Santiniketan, the alma mater of several prominent personalities of the nationalist movement in India, most notably Indira Gandhi, a former prime minister of India, Satyajit Ray, Amartya Sen, Bhakt Darshan joined the freedom struggle at an early age and suffered imprisonment for several years.

Member of Parliament

Bhakt Darshan was elected the first MP or Member of Parliament from Garhwal (Lok Sabha constituency) when India got its freedom and held the first general elections in the history of modern India in 1952. He represented Garhwal constituency of Uttar Pradesh successively for four terms during First, Second, Third and Fourth Lok Sabha between 1952-70.

Union Minister

He was a noted parliamentarian and an educationist as well. As a Union Minister during 1963-71 he held with distinction various important portfolios. He was Deputy Minister for Education in Lal Bahadur Shastri's cabinet, and later Minister of State for Transport and Minister of State for Education in Mrs Indira Gandhi's cabinet. He left politics in 1971 when his beloved party Indian National Congress, which under the leadership of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, and other national leaders brought the long-awaited freedom to India, was divided into two factions due to inter-party ideological struggle between the groups headed by Indira Gandhi on the one hand and party hard liners such as Morarji Desai on the other. Bhakt Darshan didn't want to take sides, so he left to lead a private life in Dehradun.

During his long public life, Bhakt Darshan took keen interest in the development of Garhwal, especially in the matters of education and general welfare and upliftment of the poor and was associated with several organizations connected with the development of the region.

He was deeply involved in the promotion of Hindi and was intimately connected with various social and cultural organisations.

A promoter of healthy journalism. he was Founder-Editor of 'Karma Bhumi'. a Hindi weekly. He had two publications--'Suman-Smriti-Granth' and 'Garhwal-Ki-Diwangat Vibhutiyan' to his credit.

A renowned and dedicated social and political worker, he truly believed in the Gandhian way of life and organised the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Fund. He worked relentlessly for the welfare of ex- servicemen and serving soldiers and also established Azad Hind Fauj Relief Fund.

His eldest brother Ganga Singh Rawat served as an administrator in Garhwal and Kumaon before and after Indian Independence. Bhakt Darshan was blessed with seven children: Jag Darshan, Priya Darshan, Hari Darshan, Sant Darshan, Chandra Darshan, Meera Darshan and Neera Darshan.

Shri Bhakt Darshan passed away on 30 April, 1991 at the age of 79.