Arjun Singh (5 November 1930 – 4 March 2011) was an Indian politician from the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

, who served twice as the

Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh The chief minister of Madhya Pradesh is the chief executive of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the ch ...

in the 1980s. He also served twice as the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

Minister of Human Resource Development The Minister of Education, formerly the Minister of Human Resources Development (1985-2020), is the head of the Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. ...

, in the Manmohan Singh and P. V. Narasimha Rao ministries.

Early life

Arjun Singh was the son of Shiv Bahadur Singh, a jagirdar and the 26th Rao of Churhat thikana, and an INC politician.

Career

Shri Arjun Singh assumes the charge of Union Minister for Human Resource Development in New Delhi on May 24, 2004

Arjun Singh was first elected to the

Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha or the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly is the unicameral state legislature of Madhya Pradesh state in India. The seat of the Vidhan Sabha is at Bhopal, the capital of the state. It is housed in the ''Vidha ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

from Majholi as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate. He joined the

in 1960. He was re-elected from Majholi in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

and became a minister in the INC government of Dwarka Prasad Mishra. In

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, he lost the election from Churhat due to a fallout with the then chief minister Dwarka Prasad Mishra. However, he won a bypoll in the same year from Umaria. He was elected from

Sidhi Sidhi is a town and a municipality in Sidhi district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the Sidhi district. Geography Sidhi is located at . It has an average elevation of 272 metres (892 feet) and cove ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

and became a minister in the INC government of Prakash Chandra Sethi. In

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

, he was elected from Churhat and became the Leader of Opposition in the

. In 1980, when INC achieved a simple majority in the assembly, he won from Churhat and became the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

, despite the presence of strong contenders such as Sethi, Vidya Charan Shukla and

Shiv Bhanu Singh Solanki Shiv Bhanu Singh Solanki was a leader of Indian National Congress from Madhya Pradesh. He was deputy chief minister in Government of Madhya Pradesh headed by Arjun Singh in 1980. He was elected to Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Dhar d ...

. His five year term was marked by the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. He led the INC to victory in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, yet again winning from Churhat, but was forced to resign as Chief Minister after just one day due to differences with

Sriniwas Tiwari Shriyut Sriniwas Tiwari (17 September 1926 – 19 January 2018) was a politician from Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, India. He had a long career in Madhya Pradesh state politics. He was a six-time member of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. For ...

Motilal Vora Motilal Vora (20 December 1928 – 21 December 2020) was an Indian politician belonging to the Indian National Congress (INC). He served as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (1985–1988; 1989). He was born in Nimbi Jodha, Jodhpur State, British ...

succeeded him as Chief Minister. He resigned his Madhya Pradesh assembly seat and was appointed Governor of Punjab in 1985. He worked for the implementation of the Rajiv-Longowal Accord for peace in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

. However, after eight months, he resigned as Governor and became

Minister of Commerce A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial polic ...

in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet. He was elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

from

South Delhi South Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India with its headquarters in Saket. Administratively, the district is divided into three subdivisions, Saket, Hauz Khas, and Mehrauli. It is bounded by t ...

in a bypoll in 1985, necessitated by the assassination of the sitting MP

Lalit Maken Lalit Maken was a Member of parliament, a political leader of Indian National Congress and a labour union leader. Maken was the son-in-law of late President of India, Shankar Dayal Sharma. In the year of 1984, he was elected to the Lok Sabha as ...

.He was appointed as First Vice President of

by Rajiv Gandhi. In 1986, he resigned the Commerce ministry and was appointed Minister of Communications. He held this post till 1988 when he returned to the

Government of Madhya Pradesh Government of Madhya Pradesh also known as the State Government of Madhya Pradesh, or locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and its 52 districts. It consists of an executive ...

and again became Chief Minister of the state. He resigned his

seat and won a bypoll to the

from

Kharsia Kharsia in Chhattisgarh State, India Geography Kharsia is located at . It has an average elevation of . Demographics India census, Kharsia had a population of 17,387. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Kharsia has an aver ...

in 1988. However, he resigned as Chief Minister in 1989 owing to the Churhat lottery scam, and was succeeded by

. He won in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

from Churhat. In

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, he won from

Satna Satna is a city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of Satna district. It is 7th largest city and 8th most populous city of the state. The city is 500 km east of the state capital Bhopal. The city is ...

. He resigned his assembly seat and harboured ambitions of becoming

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. However, P. V. Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister and Singh was appointed the

. He publicly expressed discontent with the Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao after the Babri Masjid demolition. He resigned as

in 1994. In 1996, he rebelled against the INC leadership and formed the All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) along with

Narayan Dutt Tiwari Narayan Datt Tiwari (18 October 1925 – 18 October 2018) was an Indian politician who served as the 9th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and 3rd Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2002 to 2007. He was first Indian Chief Minister who served for ...

. However, he lost in 1996 from

. Later, he returned to INC after the emergence of Sonia Gandhi. He lost in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

from

Hoshangabad Hoshangabad, officially known as Narmadapuram is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Hoshangabad district and Narmadapuram division. It is located in central India, on the south ...

. He was elected to the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

in 2000 from

, and was re-elected in 2006. He was awarded the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 2000. He served as

from 2004 to 2009 in the Manmohan Singh cabinet.

Controversies

Bhopal Incident

Arjun Singh was the Chief Minister of

when the deadly gas leak from the

Union Carbide Union Carbide Corporation is an American chemical corporation wholly owned subsidiary (since February 6, 2001) by Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers befo ...

factory occurred. It is widely alleged that on the fateful night between 2 and 3 December 1984, when the gas leak occurred, Arjun Singh fled to his Kerwa Dam Palace (outside

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

) to save himself from deadly effects of leaked gas and was not available to manage the crisis or lead the administration. Subsequently, the Arjun Singh government's mishandling was criticised by the court in the verdict on the Bhopal disaster as pronounced by the Chief Judicial Magistrate,

on 7 June 2010. The media raised serious questions about his role in the release of Warren Anderson. In particular, the pilot of the aircraft in which Warren Anderson flew out of India after the gas leak, has recorded that the final sanction to permit the flight came from Arjun Singh's office.

Churhat Lottery case and Kerwa Dam palace

While Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Singh was involved in the scandal known as the Churhat Lottery case. The Churhat Children Welfare Society was floated in 1982 by relatives of Singh, and permitted to raise funds via lottery, and also given tax relief as a charity. However, there were widespread allegations that substantial sums of money were siphoned off from donations and used to construct the lavish

Kerwa Dam Kerwa Dam is located in Mendora village of Bhopal district in Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, ...

Palace near Bhopal. The donations to the society included a Rs 150,000 donation from

, whose chief Warren Anderson was permitted to leave the country after the gas leak, allegedly by Arjun Singh's office. At a public litigation hearing, the

Madhya Pradesh High Court The Madhya Pradesh High Court is the High Court of the state of Madhya Pradesh which is located in Jabalpur. It was established as the Nagpur High Court on 2 January 1936 by Letters Patent dated 2 January 1936, issued under Section 108 the '' ...

observed that "Arjun Singh owed an explanation to the nation about the costs and sources of construction of the palatial mansion in Bhopal". While Singh had claimed the value of the palace was Rs 1.8 million, the IT Department estimated the cost at above Rs one crore. However, a one-judge commission investigating the scandal gave a clean chit to Arjun Singh. The case was re-opened however, after the Jain Hawala case, and Singh was asked to submit fresh re-estimates of the palace cost. In court, the case was argued by

Kapil Sibal Kapil Sibal (born 8 August 1948) is an Indian lawyer and politician. Sibal has represented several high-profile cases in the Supreme Court of India and is widely regarded as one of the famous lawyers of India. He is a Member of Parliament, in Ra ...

and the order for re-examination was squashed on the grounds that it had been issued in a haste and "had not applied his mind".

Other controversies

After the Mumbai train bombings of 2006, he reportedly quoted at a Cabinet meeting the statements of a former judge of the Maharashtra High Court that an earlier attempt on the headquarters of the Hindu revivalist

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family ...

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nagpur is projected to ...

had been a plot set into motion by the Sangh itself. This followed his denouncement of the Ekal Vidyalayas, one-teacher schools run for the benefit of the tribals of India by the

Vishwa Hindu Parishad The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) () is an Indian right-wing Hindu organization based on Hindu nationalism. The VHP was founded in 1964 by M. S. Golwalkar and S. S. Apte in collaboration with Swami Chinmayananda. Its stated objective is "t ...

., as communal. A case under the Anti-Dowry Act was registered against Arjun Singh in 2007. The then

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

government had decided to seek CBI inquiry into dowry harassment case. Arjun Singh was accused of irregularities and corruption in the grant of "Deemed University" status to private for-profit educational institutions which did not meet requisite educational standards, during his tenure as Minister for Human Resources Development. The Government of India initiated proceedings to repeal the "Deemed University" status of 44 such institutions in January 2010.

Death

Singh died on 4 March 2011, at the age of 80. He had been admitted in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

All India Institute of Medical Sciences The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare , Government of India. These institutes ha ...

with chest pain and

neurological problems A neurological disorder is any disorder of the nervous system. Structural, biochemical or electrical abnormalities in the brain, spinal cord or other nerves can result in a range of symptoms. Examples of symptoms include paralysis, muscle weakness ...

, and died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

. He was cremated at his home town of Churhat.

Family

Arjun Singh's son Ajay Singh aka Rahul Bhaiya is an INC politician and former Leader of Opposition in the

. His grandson is Arunoday Singh, a Bollywood actor. Another grandson of his,

Yuvaraja Yuv(a)raj(a) (Sanskrit: युवराज) is an Indian title for the crown prince, and the heir apparent to the throne of an Indian (notably Hindu) kingdom or (notably in the Mughal Empire or British Raj) princely state. It is usually applied t ...

Aishwarya Singh of Singrauli is married to

Devyani Rana Devyani Rana ( ne, देवयानी राणा) is the second daughter of Pashupati Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana and ''Rani'' Usha Raje Scindia, daughter of Jiwaji Rao Scindia, the last maharaja of Gwalior, and the wife of Aishwarya Sin ...

, great-granddaughter of

Mohan Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana Field-Marshal Shree Shree Shree Maharaja Sir Mohan Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana ( ne, मोहन शम्शेर जङ्गबहादुर राणा), GCB, GCIE, GBE (23 December 1885 – 6 January 1967) was the prime minister ...

, the last Shree Teen Maharaja of Nepal. Devyani’s father-

His Highness Highness (abbreviation HH, oral address Your Highness) is a formal style used to address (in second person) or refer to (in third person) certain members of a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty. It is typically used with a possessive adject ...

Shree Teen

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...

Pashupati Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana is the titular Shree Teen Maharaja of Nepal.

Positions held

* 1957 - 1985 Member,

* 1963 - 1967 Minister of State for Agriculture, General Administration Department (GAD) and Information & Public Relations,

* 1967 Minister of Planning and Development,

* 1972 - 1977 Minister of Education,

* 1977 - 1980 Leader of Opposition,

* 1980 - 1985

* 1985 - 1985 Governor of Punjab * 1985 - 1988

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

* 1985 - 1986

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

* 1986 - 1988 Minister of Communications,

* 1988 - 1991 Member,

* 1988 - 1989

* 1991 - 1996

* 1991 - 1994

* 2000 - 2011

* 2000 - 2004 Member, Consultative Committee for the

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

* 2001 - 2004 Member, Committee on Rules * 2002 - 2004 Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Purposes Committee * 2004 - 2009

Elections contested

- Won from Majholi ( IND) *

- Won from Majholi ( INC) *

- Lost from Churhat ( INC) * 1967 - Won

bypoll A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

from Umaria ( INC) *

- Won from

( INC) *

- Won from Churhat ( INC) * 1980 - Won from Churhat ( INC) *

- Won from Churhat ( INC) * 1985 - Won

from

( IND) * 1988 - Won

from

( INC) *

- Won from Churhat ( INC) *

- Won from

( INC) * 1996 - Lost from

( AIICT) *

- Lost from

( INC) * 2000 - Won

election from

( INC) * 2006 - Won

election from

( INC)"Arjun, Bhardwaj, Shinde elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha"
Tribuneindia.com, 20 March 2006.

References

External links

Early life

Career

Controversies

Bhopal Incident

Churhat Lottery case and Kerwa Dam palace

Other controversies

Death

Family

Positions held

Elections contested

See also

References

External links