Balbir Singh Rajewal (born 20 August 1943) is an Indian farm union leader and politician from

Ludhiana, Punjab Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. I ...

. He is founder of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) and the Chief Ministerial candidate of

Sanyukt Samaj Morcha Balbir Singh Rajewal (born 20 August 1943) is an Indian farm union leader and politician from Ludhiana, Punjab. He is founder of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) and the Chief Ministerial candidate of Sanyukt Samaj Morcha party for the 2022 Punj ...

party for the

2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Punjab on 20 February 2022 to elect the 117 members of the 16th Assembly of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the results were declared on 10 March 2022. The Aam Aadmi P ...

. Rajewal is known for his active participation in

2020-2021 Indian farmers' protest The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

Early life

Rajewal was born on 20 August 1943. He started his career as a telegraphist in the post and telegraph department but in 1968 he resigned from his job.

Farmer activist

In May 1972, Rajewal formed '' Punjab Khetibari Union'' with merger of 11 peasants groups in

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

. When in 1978, PKU transformed into

Bharatiya Kisan Union Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) (English: Indian Farmers' Union) is a farmer's representative organisation in India. It was founded by Chaudhary Charan Singh from the ''Punjab Khetibari Union'' (Punjab Farming Union) which became its Punjab branch. ...

, he was appointed Secretary of the Union. He is also credited with writing the Constitution of BKU. He also worked with

Mahendra Singh Tikait Mahendra Singh Tikait (6 October 1935 – 15 May 2011) was an Indian farmer leader from the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. He was born in 1935 at village Sisauli in Muzaffarnagar District of Uttar Pradesh. He was President of the Bharatiya Kis ...

and

Sharad Anantrao Joshi Sharad Anantrao Joshi (3 September 1935 – 12 December 2015) was an Indian politician who founded the Swatantra Bharat Paksh party and ''Shetkari Sanghatana'' (farmers' Organisation), He was also a Member of the Parliament of India representin ...

. In 2009, he went on hunger strike and demanded relief for farmers under drought funds and then uplifted the hunger strike with one glass of juice rather than claiming relief fund.

2020 Farmers Protest

In 2020, Government of India passed three farm acts, along with other 31 Farmer Unions in Punjab, he started protest against these laws in Punjab and then at Singhu Border near Delhi at Haryana. He is also the member of

Samyukt Kisan Morcha Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) (), formed in November 2020, is a coalition of over forty Indian farmers' unions to coordinate satyagragh (non-violent resistance) against the three farm acts initiated in September of the same year. The SKM in oppo ...

(SKM).

Politics

Rajewal has been close to various political parties in past, including

Shiromani Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are many ...

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 Em ...

, and

Aam Aadmi Party The Aam Aadmi Party (; AAP) is a political party in India, as one of the national political parties. The AAP was founded in November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal and his then-companions following the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement, popular ...

, but didn't accept any official post. During 2020-2021 Farmers' protest, he was against any political participation. After the withdrawal of Farm laws by

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, c ...

in November 2021, the 22 Farm unions of Punjab broke away from the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and announced intentions to participate in

. Balbir Singh Rajewal has announced to be Chief Minister face of the new party named as Sanyukt Samaj Morcha. SKM has distanced itself from the new party and said it is not associated with SSM. The new party is not allowed to use the SKM banners.

Sanyukt Samaj Morcha

In 2020, after the passing of three farm laws by the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

, large

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

against them took place. Until the suspension of the protests, all 32 Punjab Farm Unions were against any political participation. After the Government announced the withdrawal of the three farm laws, 22 out 32 Punjab Farmer Unions announced their intention to participate in the

. Sanyukt Samaj Morcha a new political party was founded. Balbir Singh Rajewal was selected as Chief Minister candidate.

has distanced itself from the new party and said it is not associated with SSM. The new party is not allowed to use the SKM banners. The Election Commission of India registered the Morcha on 2 February 2022.

2022 Punjab election

Sanyukt Samaj Morcha announced an alliance with the Sanyukt Sangharsh Party for the 2022 Punjab elections. The Nawan Punjab Party’s President

Dharamvir Gandhi Dharamvir Gandhi (born 1 June 1951) is an Indian politician and was earlier a member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He was a Member of Parliament from Patiala. Career During his college days, Gandhi was detained for a month in Amritsar, for prot ...

extended his support to Morcha. The

Marxist Communist Party of India (United) Marxist Communist Party of India (United) is a communist party in India, formed in 2005 by the unification of the Marxist Communist Party of India, the Mangat Ram Pasla-led breakaway group from the CPI(M) in Punjab - Communist Party Marxist ( ...

also extended their support to Morcha. On 16 January 2022, the Aapna Punjab Party merged with Sanyukt Samaj Morcha. The Bhartiya Aarthik Party also later joined Sanyukt Samaj Morcha as well. Sanyukt Samaj Morcha lost all the seats they contested.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajewal, Balbir Singh Living people 1943 births Punjab, India politicians 20th-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian politicians Leaders of 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest