Chaudhary Charan Singh
Chaudhary Charan Singh was born on Dec 23, 1902 in Noorpur in western Uttar Pradesh. Like Sir Chhotu Ram, he came from a rural, peasant family and went on to become a lawyer. Both promoted the concept of a united rural community, encompassing not only the Jats, but others as well. And both shared a concern about the exploitative nature of the brahman-bania combine.
In 1929 he joined the Indian National Congress. He was jailed several times in the struggle for Indian independence. He served in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) state assembly from 1937 on.
His political career began through the Congress ranks, supporting tenant rights.In 1939, he published his proposals to abolish zamindari in UP. Working against the vein of early Congress policy and fighting formidable landlord influence, he mobilised support for peasant ownership of land, implemented reforms, and prevented tax increases on farmers. He worked to make farmers into an aggressive political force.
Chaudhary Charan Singh became an architect of India’s national system of agrarian alliances. He brought about the Jat-Muslim political alliance in late 1960s when he was the Chief Minister of UP. He became the chief minister of the state in 67-68 and again in 70.
He remained committed to the ideal of a homogeneous and inclusive rural bloc. However, unlike Sir Chhotu Ram, he was a product of Jat cultural assertion and the Arya Samaj movement and hence did not use caste as a rallying point. According to him, the Jat interest lay with the interests of the countryside.
In 1977 he allied his peasant and agricultural based Indian Revolutionary Party with the Janata Party of Morarji Desai and served as home minister (1977-78) and deputy prime minister (1979) in Desai's coalition government.In July 1979 he became the Prime Minister of India with Congress support. But he resigned shortly afterwards, without facing a trust vote, when Indira Gandhi withdrew support.
He never held high office again. However, one must remember that he was the first peasant (and the first Jat) to achieve that position. It was not until 1989, when Chaudhary Devi Lal became the deputy PM, that one occupied as significant a role in national politics.
Though he was seen by the Jats of western UP as their benefactor, it would be unfair to call him merely a Jat leader. He is much better described as a rural leader, whose support base transcended all rural communities.
Chaudhary Charan Singh died on May 29, 1987 in New Delhi where he was cremated at Kisan Ghat.
See also
Tewatia/Teotia : For the gotra history of Chaudhary Charan Singh
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