Karpoori Thakur (24 January 1924 – 17 February 1988) was an Indian politician from the
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 ...
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 (
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
/
Bharatiya Kranti Dal
Bharatiya Kranti Dal was a political party in India, formed by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Charan Singh. The party was founded at a meeting in Lucknow in October 1967. After the 1977 general election, the successor party of the BKD, Bharati ...
), and from December 1977 to April 1979 (
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 ...
).
Biography
Karpoori Thakur was born in the
Nai caste to Gokul Thakur and Ramdulari Devi at Pitaunjhia (now Karpuri Gram) village in
Samastipur District
Samastipur is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar in India. The district headquarters are located at Samastipur. The district occupies an area of 2904 km² and has a population of 4,261,566.
History
Samastipur became a district ...
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 ...
. He was influenced by nationalistic ideas as a student, and joined the
All India Students Federation. As a student activist, he left his graduate college to join the
Quit India Movement. For his participation in the
Indian independence movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
, he spent 26 months in prison.
After India gained independence, Thakur worked as a teacher in his village's school. He became a member of the Bihar
Vidhan Sabha
The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...
in 1952 from Tajpur constituency as a
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
candidate. He was arrested for leading P & T employees during the general strike of the Central Government employees in 1960. In 1970, he undertook a
fast unto death for 28 days to promote the cause of
Telco labourers.
Thakur was a votary of
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
language, and as the education minister of Bihar, he removed English as the compulsory subject for the
matriculation
Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination.
Australia
In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now ...
curriculum. It is alleged that the Bihari students suffered due to the resulting low standards of English-medium education in the state.
Thakur served as a minister and
Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar
The Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar is the seniormost cabinet member of the state government who serves as the de-facto second head of the state. He is the second highest ranking executive authority of the state's council of ministers. The curr ...
, before becoming the first non-
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
socialist Chief Minister of Bihar in 1970. He also enforced total
prohibition of alcohol
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic be ...
in Bihar. During his reign, many schools and colleges were established in his name
in the backward areas of Bihar.
Academic S N Malakar, who belongs to one of the MBCs
of Bihar and had participated in the agitation supporting
Karpoori Thakur’s reservation policy in the 1970s as a student
activist belonging to the
All India Students Federation (AISF)
contends that the subaltern classes of Bihar – MBCs, dalits and upper OBCs had already gained confidence during the time of
the Janata Party government.
Chet Ram Tomar of Bulandshahr was his close ally.
A socialist leader, Thakur was close to
Jaya Prakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for le ...
.
During
the emergency in India (1975–77), he and other prominent leaders of Janata Party led the "Total Revolution" movement aimed at non-violent transformation of the Indian society.
In the
1977 Bihar Legislative Assembly election
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 Democratic Rep ...
, the ruling Indian National Congress suffered a heavy defeat at the hands 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 ...
. Janata Party was a recent amalgam of disparate groups including
Indian National Congress (Organisation)
The Indian National Congress (Organisation) also known as Congress (O) or Syndicate/Old Congress was a political party in India formed when the Congress party split following the expulsion of Indira Gandhi.
On 12 November 1969, the Prime Minis ...
,
Charan Singh's
Bharatiya Lok Dal
Bharatiya Lok Dal ( English: Indian Peoples' Party) was a political party in India. The BLD or simply BL was formed at the end of 1974 through the fusion of seven parties opposed to the rule of Indira Gandhi, including the Swatantra Party, ...
(BLD), Socialists and Hindu Nationalists of Jana Sangh. The sole purpose of these groups joining together was to defeat Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi, who had imposed a nationwide
emergency
An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...
and curtailed many freedoms. There were also social cleavages with Socialists and BLD representing backward castes and Congress(O) and Jana Sangh the upper castes.
After the
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 ...
came to power, Thakur became Chief Minister of Bihar for the second time by winning the legislative party election against Bihar Janata Party President
Satyendra Narayan Sinha, formerly of Congress
by a vote of 144 to 84. Infighting in the party broke over the question of Thakur's decision to implement the Mungeri Lal Commission report, that recommended the institution of reservations for Backward Castes in government jobs. Upper caste members of the
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 ...
tried to water down the reservation policy by unseating Thakur as Chief Minister. To wean away Dalit MLAs,
Ram Sundar Das, a Dalit himself, was nominated as the candidate. Though both Das and Thakur were socialists, Das was considered more moderate and accommodating than the Chief Minister. Thakur resigned and Das became the Chief Minister of Bihar on 21 April 1979. The reservation law was weakened by allowing upper castes to obtain a greater percentage of government jobs. The internal tensions in the
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 ...
caused it to split into multiple factions which led to Congress to return to power in 1980.
However, he could not last his full term because he lost the leadership battle in 1979 from Ram Sundar Das whom his adversaries placed against him and was replaced as chief minister.
When
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 ...
split in July 1979, Karpoori Thakur sided with the outgoing Charan Singh faction. He was elected from
Samastipur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)
Samastipur Vidhan Sabha (assembly) constituency is in Samastipur district in the Indian state of Bihar.
Overview
As per Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies Order, 2008, No. 133 Warisnagar Assembly constituency is compose ...
to Bihar Vidhan Sabha as
Janata Party (Secular)
The Janata Party (Secular) was an Indian political party founded by Raj Narain in July, 1979. On 16 July 1979, Charan Singh assumed its leadership and became the Prime Minister of India on 28 July 1979 with the support of the Indian National C ...
candidate in 1980 elections. His party changed its name to Bharatiya Lok Dal later, and Thakur was elected to Bihar Vidhan Sabha as its candidate in 1985 election from Sonbarsa constituency. He passed away before this Vidhan Sabha could complete its term.
Thakur was known as the champion of the poor. He introduced
reservation for the backward classes in the Government jobs, in 1978. In 1977;
Devendra Prasad Yadav resigned from the Bihar Vidhan Sabha and paved the way for Thakur to contest the
Phulparas Vidhan Sabha constituency by-election. Thakur won by the margin of 65000 votes, defeating Ram Jaipal Singh Yadav of INC.
Thakur served as the President of
Samyukta Socialist Party. He is called a mentor to the prominent Bihari leaders such as
Lalu Prasad Yadav
Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009), and a former Member of Parlia ...
,
Ram Vilas Paswan
Ram Vilas Paswan (5 July 19468 October 2020) was an Indian politician from Bihar and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the first and second Modi ministries. Paswan was also the president of the Lok Jansh ...
,
Devendra Prasad Yadav and
Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unit ...
.
In Memory
*Karpoori Thakur's birthplace, Pitaunjhia, was renamed to Karpuri Gram (Hindi for "Karpuri village") after his death in 1988.
*Th
Jan Nayak Karpuri Thakur Vidhi Mahavidyalaya(Law College) in
Buxar
Buxar is a nagar parishad city in the state of Bihar, India bordering Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the eponymous Buxar district, as well as the headquarters of the community development block of Buxar, which also contains the ce ...
is also named after him.
*Bihar Government opened Jannayak Karpoori Thakur Medical College in
Madhepura
Madhepura is a municipality in Madhepura district in the Indian state of Bihar. It stands at the centre of Kosi ravine, It was called ''Madhyapura-'' a place centrally situated which was subsequently transformed as Madhipura into present Madhep ...
.
*The Department of Posts released a
commemorative stamp
A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike defi ...
in his memory.
*
Jan Nayak Express Train running Between
Darbhanga &
Amritsar by Indian Railway.
*The government has taken immense commemorative measures that includes naming several stadiums after Jan Nayak Karpuri Thakur in the state, establishment of scores of colleges and statues in most of the districts, Karpuri Thakur Museum, Jan Nayak Karpuri Thakur hospitals in Samastipur and Darbhanga, publication of ''Karpuri Thakur's speeches in legislative'' and documentary formation on Karpuri Thakur.
See also
*
Karpoori Thakur ministry (1977–79)
References
External links
Karpoori Thakur-COMMEMORATIVE STAMP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thakur, Karpoori
1924 births
1988 deaths
Chief Ministers of Bihar
Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar
Finance Ministers of Bihar
Indian socialists
State cabinet ministers of Bihar
People from Samastipur district
Lok Sabha members from Bihar
Samyukta Socialist Party politicians
Janata Party politicians
Bharatiya Lok Dal politicians
Leaders of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly
Chief ministers from Janata Party
Bihar MLAs 1952–1957
India MPs 1977–1979
Janata Party (Secular) politicians
Lok Dal politicians