R.L.P. Verma (1 February 1938 – 15 January 2004) was a former member of

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-past ...

and a leader of

Bhartiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

. He was elected to Lok Sabha from Kodarma in

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

state in

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 ...

for six terms. Verma represented Jamua Assembly constituency once, from where he was elected in legislative assembly elections in 1972, on the ticket of

Bhartiya Jana Sangh The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) (ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the pol ...

. However, on the call of Jai Prakash Narayan for

Total Revolution The JP movement also known as Bihar Movement was a political movement initiated by students in the Indian state of Bihar in 1974 and led by the veteran Gandhian socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP, against misrule and corruptio ...

, he resigned from his legislative assembly membership and became a part of the "Sampurna Kranti movement". He was made a candidate 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 ...

for Lok Sabha elections in 1977, and was subsequently elected to lower house of Indian Parliament. Verma has represented Kodarma Lok Sabha constituency for five terms, making him the longest serving

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 of ...

(MP) from this constituency. He was one of the two Member of Parliament of BJP during transformation of

Jana Sangh The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) ( ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the po ...

into

. Verma played instrumental role in strengthening

and later

in Bihar-Jharkhand region.

Biography

Verma was born to B.M Kushwaha, in an agrarian family belonging to

Koeri The Koeri (spelt as Koiry or Koiri) and also referred to as Kushwaha and Maurya in several parts of North India are an Indian non-elite caste, found largely in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, whose traditional occupation was agriculture. According ...

caste. He studied at

Patna University Patna University is a public state university in Patna, Bihar, India. It was established on 1 October 1917 during the British Raj. It is the first university in Bihar and the seventh oldest university in the Indian subcontinent in the modern er ...

and later Ranchi University. A holder of

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and L.L.B degrees, he also got a diploma in

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

. Before working as full time politician, he was a professional lawyer. He took participation in '

' movement of Jayaprakash Narayan, during which, he was imprisoned for 19 month. He was also sent to jail thrice for agitation on

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

issue. Verma was also associated with

Trade Unionism A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

and farmers' right movements. He was convenor of Bharat Sevak Samaj, an organisation based in

Giridih Giridih is headquarters of the Giridih district of Jharkhand state, India. The city of Giridih is known for its industrial and health sectors, as well as its scenic beauty. Giridih houses the Giridih Coalfield which is one of the oldest coalfi ...

. Verma was also associated with organisation called Farmers' Liberation Front and served as president of

Mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...

Workers Trade Union between 1970 and 1975. He was also the president of ''Steel Workers Revolutionary Trade Union'' based in Bokaro. Between 1968 and 1972, Verma worked as president of

Bharatiya Jana Sangh The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) (ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the pol ...

(B.J.S.), for the district of Giridih in Jharkhand (then Bihar). He also served as Joint Secretary of Bihar wing of Bhartiya Jana Sangh, between 1969 and 1977. He was elected to

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the Bihar Legislature where the first elections were held in 1952. The total strength of membership in the Assembly was 331, including one nominated m ...

for the first time during 1972–74. As a member of Indian Parliament, he has also served as member of various financial committees. Verma was first elected to

, the lower house of Indian Parliament in 1977. As a member of

6th Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. The 6th Lok Sabha, which ran from 23 March 1977 to 22 August 1979 was elected in February and March 1977. 11 sitting members from Rajya Sabha were elected to 6t ...

, he served as a Member of Committee on Estimates between 1978 and 1979. In 1980, he was again re-elected to

7th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 7th Lok Sabha, (18 January 1980 – 31 December 1984) elected December 1979 – January 1980. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India nine sitting members from Rajya Sabha were el ...

for his second term. Between 1980 and 1982, he remained a member of Consultative Committee of Ministry of Railways. In the meantime, he was raised to the post of Secretary of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

(B.J.P.), Bihar. As a member of BJP, he was re-elected to 9th Lok Sabha for his third term as Member of Parliament. Owing to his political height, he was made Mahamantri of Bihar wing of B.J.P between 1989 and 1991. Between 1990 and 1991, he remained a part of Committee of Privileges of parliament. In between 1993 and 1995, he was holding the post of vice-president, B.J.P for Bihar, and from 1995, Secretary of Bihar BJP. In 1996, he was re-elected to

11th Lok Sabha General elections were held in India in 1996 Indian general election, April–May 1996 to elect the members of the 11th Lok Sabha. The result of the election was a hung parliament, which would see three Prime Ministers in two years and force t ...

for his fourth term as MP. He was again re-elected to

12th Lok Sabha This is the list of members of the 12th Lok Sabha, (10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999) after the 1998 Indian general election held during February–March 1998. This was the second consecutive Lok Sabha, like the 11th Lok Sabha elections that d ...

in 1998, making it his fifth term as MP. In the aftermath of this election, he again served as member of various committees of parliament. In 1999, Verma threatened to leave BJP, as he was upset over the fact that an ordnance factory, which was about to be established in his constituency, was set up in constituency of George Fernandes. During his last days in Bhartiya Janata Party, he was cornered by a rival group within the party. As a result of this, he left BJP and became a part of

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ( lit. ''Jharkhand Liberation Front''; JMM) is a State political party in the Indian state of Jharkhand which was founded by Binod Bihari Mahato. It has one seat in the 17th Lok Sabha. Shibu Soren is the president of th ...

. He also played important role in Jharkhand movement. He died in 2004. In 2014, his son Pranav Verma also contested the

elections from Kodarma, but was defeated.

Socio-cultural activities

He led establishment of a number of high schools and colleges in his constituency. It is reported that due to his efforts, Jharkhand got a railway line (294 - km. long) laid from

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

via Hazaribagh town and Kodarma. Verma also played important role in bringing many irrigation projects and reservoir schemes in area. He also pitched for an ordnance factory, to be established in his constituency. He also set up

water treatment plants Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, includ ...

, telephone kendras (telephone centres) and power houses in the region and provided assistance to drought-affected persons.

Books authored

He also took interest in literary pursuits; some of the books authored by him are: (i) Goraksha Sandesh (A collection of poems);(ii) Madhyawadhi Chunav; Ek Shadyantra; (iii) Lav Kush Aikikaran; (iv) Laloo Tantra Banam Lok Tantra; (v) Satta Ki Chhina Jhapti; (vi) Dharam Nirpeksh Shaktiyoan Ka Sanyukta (Islami) Morcha; (vii)Vananchal; and (viii)Vananchal Prathak Rajya (both under print)(all in Hindi). He was also the Chief Editor of weekly magazine ''Ekikaran Manch'' and monthly issue of ''Manch Prabha'' and ''Vyapar Pradarshak'' (all in Hindi). He composed several poems and contributed articles to the newspapers. Verma also produced a documentary film called Janata Yug in 1979.

Personal life

Verma's brother, Jagdish Prasad Kushwaha, who was an

Ayurved Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population repor ...

practitioner was considered as one of the tallest leader of

. Latter had played significant role in establishing Jana Sangh in United Bihar. Kushwaha's son,

Jai Prakash Verma Jai Prakash Verma was a member of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly from Gandey Assembly constituency. He was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and joined the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ( lit. ''Jharkhand Liberatio ...

, who is the nephew of Rati Lal Prasad Verma was a former member of Jharkhand Legislative Assembly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verma, R.L.P. People from Kodarma 1938 births 2004 deaths India MPs 1977–1979 India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 Lok Sabha members from Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Jharkhand Janata Party politicians Bharatiya Lok Dal politicians People from Jharkhand Bharatiya Jana Sangh politicians

Biography

Socio-cultural activities

Books authored

Personal life

See also

References