Madhav Singh Solanki (30 July 1927 – 9 January 2021) was a leader of

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 ...

party who served as External Affairs minister of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He served also as the

Chief Minister of Gujarat The Chief Minister of Gujarat is the chief executive of the government of the Indian state of Gujarat. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. The chief minister's term ...

three times. He was known for

KHAM theory KHAM (hindi: खाम) stands for Koli Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim. Here Kshatriya is taken to include the Kolis. In the KHAM combine, Kolis were the largest caste represented at different levels of politics, and Madhavsinh Solanki in ...

by which he came to power in Gujarat in 1980s.

Early life

Madhav was born on 30 July 1927 in a

Koli Koli may refer to: Places * Koli, Finland, a hill in Finland * Koli National Park, a national park in Finland * Koli, Iran (disambiguation), several places in Iran * Koli Airfield, a former airfield in the South Pacific Other uses * Koli peopl ...

family of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. His eldest son,

Bharatsinh Madhavsinh Solanki Bharatsinh Madhavsinh Solanki, born on 26 November 1953 in a Koli family of Gujarat, is an Indian politician and former president of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee. He was Minister of State for Union Minister of State for Drinking Water a ...

, is also a politician.

Career

In 1981, the

Government of Gujarat The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciary ...

headed by the chief minister Solanki, introduced the reservation for socially and economically backward classes based on recommendations of Bakshi Commission. It resulted in anti-reservation agitation across the state which spilled over in riots resulting in more than hundred deaths. Solanki resigned in 1985 but later returned to power winning 149 out of 182

assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

seats record till BJP's victory in 2022 Assembly Elections He was supported by

Kshatriya Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...

Harijan Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming a ...

Adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...

and

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s; called collectively as KHAM formula. It resulted in other communities losing the political influence.

Bofors

According to the CBI, Solanki visited

Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in 1992 to attend the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

where he allegedly met the Swiss foreign minister Rene Felber and told him that "inquiries conducted into the scam in India had failed to produce any result and that the request for mutual assistance was based on political considerations".

References

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External links

Govt to press for early Presidential sanction

1927 births 2021 deaths Indian National Congress politicians Chief Ministers of Gujarat People from Gujarat Bofors scandal Ministers for External Affairs of India Koli people Leaders of the Opposition in Gujarat Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Solanki Madhav Singh Gujarat MLAs 1980–1985 Gujarat MLAs 1985–1990 Indian National Congress politicians from Gujarat {{Gujarat-INC-politician-stub

Early life

Career

Bofors

See also

References

External links