Ambika Sharan Singh (22 December 1922 – 6 July 1977) also known as Surajiya Babuji was a noted freedom fighter and minister of state in the Finance Ministry (Independent Charge) of the Government of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

. He has served 3 times as MLA of Arrah Muffasil (1952-1967) after delimitation of Arrah Muffasil to Barhara . He then became 2 times MLA of

Barhara Barhara, also spelled Badahar, Barahara, or Barahra, is a village and corresponding community development block in Bhojpur district, Bihar, Bhojpur District of Bihar, India. It is situated on the bank of the river Ganges. By the time of July–A ...

(1967-1969) , in 1969 court had debarred him for 6 years. In 1977 he again won the election prior to his death in the same year.

Early life and background

He was born in a joint

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

family in village Dhamar of Ara district Bhojpur Bihar, Rajputs have always been influential & Powerful in Bhojpur District. His father Pradeep Rai Singh & mother died in his childhood, his uncle Ramsunder Rai Singh looked after the family. He was a bright student did his schooling from Ara Jain School with First Division and completed his Graduation and joined Master in Arts from Patna College, Patna University which he dropped to join the freedom movement, during his student life inspired by Gandhi Philosophy he joined the freedom struggle in association with Kailash Singh from his nearby village.''Aryabat'' Newspaper dated 7 July 1977

Struggle in Indian independence

He took active part in freedom struggle therefore has to drop his studies in between. In 1940 has gone underground, was once arrested by police but was able escape from the police custody. All Bihar Congress Leader has trust in him and ask him to lead Youth Congress Wing in the year 1942 he toured the entire Bihar to encourage the youth to join the India's Freedom Struggle. After the independence he was made the first Youth Congress Wing President in the year 1947.

Politics

He joined politics after the Struggle of India Independence, he contested Arrah Muffasil successfully in 1952 and then in 1957 and 1962. In 1967 the assembly seat was reconstituted and

became his constituency from where he was elected in year 1967 from Indian National Congress. However he was debarred by court to not contest election for 6 years. His close friend Ram Vilas Singh won the

constituency election in the year 1972. He was part of Sangathan Congress which became a part of

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

hence he contested from

in the year 1977 and won the Barhara Seat. He was made the Deputy Finance Minister in 1957 under Deputy Chief Minister & Finance Minister Dr.

Anugrah Narayan Sinha Anugrah Narayan Sinha (18 June 1887 – 5 July 1957), known as '' Bihar Vibhuti'', was an Indian nationalist statesman, participant in Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhian & one of the architects of modern Bihar, who was the first Deputy Chief Minis ...

in Sri Krishna Singh Ministry at the age 35 and was regarded young and dynamic deputy Finance Minister of Bihar. He also handled the Law Ministry when

Binodanand Jha Binodanand Jha (17 April 1900 – 1971), also known as Pandit Binodanand Jha was an Indian politician originally from the district of Deoghar, Bihar (Baidyanathdham Deoghar), now in Jharkhand. He was educated at the Central Calcutta College, ( ...

was Chief Minister of Bihar. As

K. B. Sahay Krishna Ballabh Sahay ( hi, कृष्ण बल्लभ सहाय; 31 December 1898 – 3 June 1974) ,fondly known as K B Sahay was an Indian freedom fighter, who after Indian Independence became the Revenue Minister of Bihar and then ...

became Chief Minister of Bihar in the year 1963 was made Minister of State (Independent Charge) Finance Department until the year 1967. He was the Chairman of Bihar State Financial Corporation from 06 March 1971 to 04 October 1974.''The Searchlight'' Newspaper 4 July 1972

Personal life

He was married to Kamala Devi, they had three sons and a daughter.

Death

He died due to heart attack in Hotel The Claridges, New Delhi on 6 July 1977. Some prominent people to visit the hotel after his death were then Prime Minister

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...

, Mr.

Chandra Shekhar Chandra Shekhar ( 17 April 1927 – 9 August 2015) was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with ...

, Mr. Satyendra Narain Singh,

Jagjivan Ram Jagjivan Ram (5 April 1908 – 6 July 1986), known popularly as Babuji, was an Indian independence activist and politician from Bihar. He was instrumental in the foundation of the ''All India Depressed Classes League'', an organisation dedicated ...

, and Mr.

Karpoori Thakur Karpoori Thakur (24 January 1924 – 17 February 1988) was an Indian politician from the Bihar state. He was popularly known as Jan Nayak (Hindi for people's hero). He served as the Chief Minister of Bihar from December 1970 to June 1971 (Socia ...

. His last rites were performed in Bas Gath Patna by his elder son Raghvendra Pratap Singh (MLA

References

{{reflist10. https://www.avbfs.com/ 11. https://www.avbfs.com/about-us/ Activists from Bihar 1922 births 1977 deaths