Charan Singh

This article is about the Indian Prime Minister. For the fourth satguru of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas, see Charan Singh (guru).

Charan Singh चरण सिंह
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
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 18 February 1970 – 1 October 1970
Governor	Bezawada Gopala Reddy
Preceded by	Chandra Bhanu Gupta
Succeeded by	Tribhuvan Narain Singh
In office 3 April 1967 – 25 February 1968
Governor	Biswanath Das Bezawada Gopala Reddy
Preceded by	Chandra Bhanu Gupta
Succeeded by	Chandra Bhanu Gupta
Personal details
Born	23 December 1902(1902-12-23) Noorpur, British India
Died	29 May 1987(1987-05-29) (aged 84)
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
Alma mater	Agra University
Religion	Hinduism
Signature

Chaudhary Charan Singh (Hindi: चौधरी चरण सिंह Caudharī Caraṇ Siṅh; 23 December 1902 – 29 May 1987) was the fifth Prime Minister of the Republic of India, serving from 28 July 1979 until 14 January 1980.

Born into a Jat family in 1902,^[1][2] Charan Singh entered politics as part of the Independence Movement. After independence he became particularly notable in the 1950s for opposing and winning a battle against Nehru's socialistic and collectivist land use policies, for the sake of the Indian Farmer, which endeared him to the agrarian communities throughout the nation, particularly in his native Uttar Pradesh.

The 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. He settled at the time for the largely honorary post of Deputy Prime Minister of India. However, the internal stresses of the coalition's government caused him to leave the government with the former Lok Dal, after being promised by Mrs. Gandhi the support of the Congress Party on the floor of the House in any efforts to form a government. He was sworn in as Prime Minister with the support of just 64 MPs.

During his term as Prime Minister the Lok Sabha never met. The day before the Lok Sabha was due to meet for the first time the Indian National Congress withdrew their support from his Bharatiya Lok Dal Government. Choudhary Charan Singh resigned and fresh elections were held six months later.

He continued to lead the Lok Dal in opposition till his death in 1987, when he was succeeded as party president by his son Ajit Singh. His association with the causes dear to farming communities in the North caused his memorial in New Delhi to be named Kisan Ghat. (In Hindi, Kisan is the word for farmer.)

The Amausi Airport in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh is also called as Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport after him. The university of Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh, India, is also named after him (Chaudhary Charan Singh University).

Early Years - Pre Independence India

Charan Singh's ancestor was the prominent leader of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Raja Nahar Singh of Ballabhgarh (in present day Haryana). Maharaja 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 village Noorpur, town Hapur, Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh. He was a good student, and received a Masters of Arts degree in 1925 and Law degree in 1926 from Agra University.

In February 1937 he was elected Chhaprouli (Baghpat) to the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh (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 the 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

In 1952, he became the Revenue Minister of state of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in independent India. He was dedicated to enforcing and implementing the provisions of the Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act of which he was the major architect. It has been argued by leading political scientists that success of Indian Democracy lies in successful implementation of this reform. Pakistan on the other hand did not have similar reforms, and the power is concentrated amongst the few powerful landlords or Zamindar who run their lands as their private fiefdom, and use their influence to further their wealth.

Charan Singh opposed Nehru on his Soviet Style Economic reform. 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. 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. 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 'Indian Emergency (1975-1977)' and jailed all her political opponents. 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 Janata government headed by Morarji Desai.

In the year 1979 after Morarji Desai resigned, everybody who came with Raj Narain wanted him to sworn in as the Prime Minister and so Raj Narain was unanimously elected as president of Janata Party Secular (Raj Narain). Mrs. Gandhi also wanted Raj Narain to become Prime Minister then, for many reasons. As Raj Narain promised Chaudhary Charan Singh to make him Prime Minister one day, the way he made him Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh earlier in 1967. Raj Narain chose to be the Chairman of Janata Party Secular and made Chaudhary Charan Singh as its president. With the support of Raj Narain and Congress(I), Chaudhary Charan Singh became Prime Minister in 1979 after Morarji Desai. His speech to the nation on India's Independence Day (15 August 1979) was very prophetic in which he identified Pakistan's nuclear ambition as a major threat to India. He also mentioned that Indian labour laws had to be refined if India were to become competitive in world economy. He also opened high level diplomatic relations with Israel, which Indira Gandhi's government which took office following the 1980 elections curtailed.' Charan Singh holds the record of the only Prime-Minister who did not face the Parliamentary floor for a single day after assuming the office. Shortly after,Indira Gandhi withdrew her support to his government and it collapsed.Charan Singh advised the then President of India Shri.Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy to declare mid term polls of the Loksabha which eventually bought back Indira Gandhi to power.

Charan Singh died on 29 May 1987. He was survived by his wife, Gayatri Devi and 2 children.His son Ajit Singh is currently the president of his political party Bharatiya Lok Dal.His grandson Jayant Chaudhary is recently elected to 15th Lok Sabha from Mathura.

Charan Singh has written several books. Some of them are:

• India's Economic Policy - The Gandhian Blueprint
• Economic Nightmare of India - Its Cause and Cure
• Cooperative Farming X-rayed

References

1. ^ The Churchill Centre (2002). "India: Making headway with the critics". The Churchill Centre. http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=932. Retrieved 2006-07-11. 
2. ^ Rediff.Com (2003-11-27). "The anti-reservation man". Rediff.Com. http://ia.rediff.com/election/2003/nov/27akd.htm. Retrieved 2006-11-18. 

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

Persondata
Name	Singh, Charan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 December 1902
Place of birth	Noorpur, United Provinces, British India
Date of death	29 May 1987
Place of death