Mehr Chand Khanna (1 June 1897 – 20 July 1970) was an Indian politician who served as the Union Minister for Rehabilitation from 1954 to 1962 and Law Minister from 1954 to 1957.Mr Mohan Lal Saksena was the first Rehabilitation Minister of the Government of India (1948 to 50).

Early life and education

Mehr Chand Khanna was an ethnic Punjabi born in

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

on 1 June 1897 to Karam Chand Khanna, a rich businessman. He had his schooling in Peshawar and graduated from

Edwardes College Edwardes College Peshawar is a semi-government degree The college's undergraduate and graduate degree programs lead to the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), 4 year BS Programme in English and Computer Science, Master of Bus ...

, Peshawar. Khanna also graduated in law and practised for a time as a lawyer.

Politics

Mehr Chand Khanna entered politics at an early age and founded the Hindu Sabha. In 1926, he served as member of the Peshawar Cantonment Board, as a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

representative. He served for some time as a member of the Frontier Crimes Regulations Enquiry Committee set up by the

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 1932, he was elected to the North West Frontier Province Assembly from the Peshawar Cantonment constituency as a member of the Hindu-Sikh Nationalist Party. When the Frontier National Congress captured power in the province in the 1937 elections and

Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan Dr. Khan Sahib ( ps, ډاکټر خان صیب ) (born 1883, Utmanzai, Charsadda – 9 May 1958, Lahore), mistakenly named as Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (), was a pioneer in the Indian Independence Movement and a Pakistani politician. He was the eld ...

became the Premier, Khanna, whose party was in winning alliance, was made the Minister of Finance. Khanna was the only

minister in the cabinet. He was also the only cabinet minister who was not related to

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Abdul Ghaffār Khān (; 6 February 1890 – 20 January 1988), also known as Bacha Khan () or Badshah Khan (), and honourably addressed as Fakhr-e-Afghan (), was a Pakistani Pashtun, independence activist, and founder of the Khudai Khidmatgar ...

. Khanna served as the Minister of Finance from 1937 to 1939, when Congress ministries all over India resigned in protest against Britain's declaration of war against Germany. He also served as Minister of Finance in the second Frontier Congress cabinet which ruled from 1945 to 1947.

Arrest

Khanna was serving as a cabinet minister in the NWFP government when the dominion of Pakistan was formed on 14 August 1947. However, the government was dismissed soon afterwards. In January 1948 Khanna was arrested along with

on charges of possessing firearms and lodged in Peshawar jail. The Indian government sent

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The ''Oxford English ...

lawyer

Frank Anthony Frank Anthony (25 September 1908 – 3 December 1993) was a leader of the Anglo-Indian community in India, and was until his death their nominated representative in the Parliament of India except 6th and 9th Lok Sabha. He served as the presi ...

to secure his release as no Hindu lawyer was willing to travel to Pakistan. Upon his release Khanna migrated to India and settled down 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 w ...

In the Indian government

Khanna participated in the Lok Sabha elections in independent India and was elected from the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. He served as Minister of Rehabilitation in the Jawaharlal Nehru cabinet from 1954 to 1962. Being a refugee himself, he is believed to have handled the refugee problem well. From 1954 to 1957, he also handled the law portfolio. During the 1960s, he was also giving the portfolio of housing.

Death

Khanna died on 20 July 1970 in

at the age of 73.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khanna, Mehr Chand 1897 births 1970 deaths India MPs 1962–1967 Law Ministers of India People from Peshawar Lok Sabha members from Delhi Indian National Congress politicians Punjabi people