Prime Minister Modi really won hearts by giving Bharat Ratna to farmers’ messiah Chaudhary Charan Singh.

In the announcement of Bharat Ratna to former Prime Minister and farmers’ messiah Chaudhary Charan Singh, former PM Narasimha Rao and agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan, it can definitely be said about Chaudhary Charan Singh that he should have received this honor long ago. Honoring Chaudhary Charan Singh is a late decision. Chaudhary Charan Singh was fully eligible for ‘Bharat Ratna’. Charan Singh was born on 23 December 1903 in a rural farmer family in Noorpur in Meerut district of western Uttar Pradesh. Born in a middle-class Jat farmer family, Chaudhary Charan Singh was a great advocate of democracy. Why it took so long to honor Chaudhary Charan Singh with Bharat Ratna may be a questionable question. Now that the Narendra Modi government at the Center has given Chaudhary Charan Singh the honor he deserved, no one will object to it.

He graduated from Science in 1923 and received a master’s degree from Agra University in 1925. Chaudhary Charan Singh started his profession as an advocate from Ghaziabad. Charan Singh came to Meerut in 1929 and later joined Congress. Chaudhary Charan Singh’s legacy is now being handled by his grandson Jayant Chaudhary. He is the President of Rashtriya Lok Dal. While reacting to Baba Chaudhary Charan Singh receiving Bharat Ratna, he thanked the Prime Minister and said that you have ‘won hearts’. There is no voice being raised from anywhere against Chaudhary Charan Singh getting Bharat Ratna, but questions are definitely being raised on the timing of giving Bharat Ratna. Before the elections, when there is a discussion going on that Chaudhary Charan Singh’s grandson Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal is in talks for an alliance with the BJP, then such a decision certainly raises questions.

Talking about Chaudhary Charan Singh’s entry into politics, Charan Singh was first elected to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly from Chhaprauli in 1937 and represented his constituency in the Assembly in 1946, 1952, 1962 and 1967. He became Parliamentary Secretary in the government of Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant in 1946 and worked in various departments like Revenue, Medical and Public Health, Justice, Information etc. In June 1951, he was appointed as a cabinet minister of the state and given charge of the Justice and Information departments. Later in 1952, he became the Minister of Revenue and Agriculture in the cabinet of Dr. Sampurnanand. When he resigned from the post in April 1959, he was holding the charge of Revenue and Transport Department. Similarly, Chaudhary Charan Singh C.B. He was the Home and Agriculture Minister in Gupta’s ministry (1960). He was the Minister of Agriculture and Forests (1962-63) in the ministry of Smt. Sucheta Kripalani. He left the Agriculture Department in 1965 and took charge of the Local Self Government Department in 1966. After the split of Congress, he became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the second time in February 1970 with the support of the Congress Party. However, President’s rule was imposed in the state on 2 October 1970.

Charan Singh, who took forward socialism even while being in Congress, served Uttar Pradesh in various positions and had become famous as a tough leader who did not tolerate inefficiency, nepotism and corruption in administration. . Charan Singh, a talented parliamentarian and pragmatist, is known for his eloquence and conviction. Full credit for land reforms in Uttar Pradesh goes to him. He had an important role in drafting and finalizing the Departmental Debt Relief Bill, 1939, which provided relief to rural debtors. The result of the initiative taken by him was that the salaries and other benefits of the ministers in Uttar Pradesh were significantly reduced. He became visible on the national stage from 1959 when he publicly opposed the socialist and collective land policies of undisputed leader and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the Nagpur Congress session. Although his position in the faction-ridden Uttar Pradesh Congress had weakened, it was at this time that the middle-to-farmer communities of various castes in North India began to see him as their spokesperson and later their undisputed leader. It is also worth noting that his ability to articulate his clear policies and values ​​within the Uttar Pradesh Congress made him stand apart from his colleagues. After this period, Charan Singh broke away from the Congress on 1 April 1967, joining the opposition party and becoming the first non-Congress Chief Minister of UP. This was the time when non-Congress governments were a strong force in India from 1967 to 1971. Morarji Desai’s choice of Jayaprakash Narayan in 1977 as leader of the Bharatiya Lok Dal, a key component of the Janata Alliance, was disappointed by his ambition to become Prime Minister.

During the 1977 Lok Sabha elections, when the scattered opposition united under the banner of the Janata Party a few months before the elections, for which Chaudhary Charan Singh had been fighting almost alone since 1974. At that time he became Prime Minister only because of the efforts of Raj Narayan. Raj Narayan was the president of the Janata Party-Secular and had assured the elevation of Charan Singh to the post of Prime Minister, just as he had helped him become the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in the year 1967. However, he resigned after only 24 weeks in office when Indira Gandhi’s Congress Party withdrew support from the government. Charan Singh said that he resigned because he was not willing to be blackmailed into withdrawing court cases related to Indira Gandhi’s emergency. New elections were held after six months. Charan Singh continued to lead the Lok Dal in the opposition until his death in 1987.

As Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, he also played an important role in bringing the Land Holding Act, 1960. This Act was brought with the aim of reducing the maximum limit for holding land so that it could be made uniform across the state. There are only a few politicians in the country who have achieved so much popularity by living among the people and working with ease. Charan Singh, a dedicated public activist and a firm believer in social justice, got a lot of strength from the confidence he gained by living among lakhs of farmers. Chaudhary Charan Singh led a very simple life and in his spare time he used to read and write. He wrote many books and manuals including ‘Abolition of Zamindari’, ‘Poverty in India and its Solution’, ‘Land for Farmers’, ‘Prevention of Division of Holdings Below a Certain Minimum’, ‘Co-operative Farming ‘X-ray’ etc. are prominent.

-Ajay Kumar