Vishwanath Pratap Singh (25 June 1931 – 27 November 2008), shortened to V. P. Singh, was an
Indian politician
Politics of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution. India is a parliamentary democratic secular republic in which the president of India is the head of state & first citizen of India and the prime minister of India is ...
who was the
7th Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1990 and the 41st
Raja Bahadur
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...
of
Manda. He is India's only prime minister to have been former royalty.
He was educated at the
Allahabad University
, mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees"
, established =
, type = Public
, chancellor = Ashish Chauhan
, vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava
, head_label ...
and
Fergusson College
Fergusson College is an autonomous public-private college offering various courses in the streams of arts and science in the city of Pune, India. It was founded in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society. Professor Vaman Shivram Apte was its fir ...
in Pune. In 1969, he joined the
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 E ...
party and was elected as a member of the
Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past-the- ...
. In 1971, he became a
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 o ...
in the
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-p ...
. He served as the
Minister of Commerce
A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial polic ...
from 1976 to 1977. In 1980, he became the
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and was known for the encounter of the gang of
Phoolan Devi.
In the
Rajiv Gandhi ministry, Singh was given various cabinet posts, including
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
and
Minister of Defence
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
. Singh was also the
Leader of the Rajya Sabha from 1984 to 1987. During his tenure as Minister of Defence, the
Bofors scandal
The Bofors scandal was a major weapons-contract political scandal that occurred between India and Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s, initiated by Indian National Congress politicians and implicating the Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, a ...
came to light, and Singh resigned from the ministry. In 1988, he formed the
Janata Dal
Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...
party by merging various factions 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 ...
. In the
1989 elections, the
National Front, with the support of the
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 Mod ...
(BJP), formed the government and Singh became the 8th Prime Minister of India.
During his tenure as prime minister, he implemented the
Mandal Commission report for India's
backward castes
The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, S ...
, which led to major
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 the act. He also created the
Sixty-second Amendment and enacted the
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act in 1989. During his term the
kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed
In 1989, Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of the then Indian Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, was kidnapped by Kashmiri separatist militants in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir. The kidnappers demanded the release of five jailed member ...
happened and on the ground the terrorists were released. In 1990 the infamous
exodus of Kashmiri Hindus happened from the valley of
Kashmir. Following his opposition to the
Ram Rath Yatra
The ''Ram Rath Yatra'' was a political and religious rally that lasted from September to October 1990. It was organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Hindu nationalist affiliates, and led by the then-president of the BJP, L. K. ...
, the BJP withdrew its support for the National Front, and his government lost the
vote of no-confidence
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
. Singh resigned on 7 November 1990. His prime ministerial tenure lasted for 343 days.
Singh was the prime ministerial candidate for the
National Front in the
1991 elections, but was defeated. He spoke out against the
Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. After 1996, Singh retired from political posts, but continued to remain a public figure and political critic. He was diagnosed with
multiple myeloma in 1998, and ceased public appearances until the cancer went into remission in 2003. However, he died from complications of multiple myeloma and kidney failure in 2008. He received full state honours.
Early life and education
Singh was born on 25 June 1931,
the third child of the
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 ...
Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
Zamindar
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...
family of Daiya, which is located on the banks of the
Belan River
Belan river (बेलन नदी) is a river in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.it Originates from Western part of Sonbhadra district Uttar Pradesh.It is famous for prehistoric sites on its banks.
Origination
It originates from western part of S ...
in the
Allahabad district
Allahabad district, officially known as Prayagraj district, is the most populous district of Uttar Pradesh state of India. The district headquarters is Allahabad which was renamed Prayagraj at the same time as the district was renamed. The Di ...
. He was adopted by Raja Bahadur Ram Gopal Singh of
Manda and became the heir-apparent. He became the
Raja Bahadur
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...
of
Manda at the age of 10 in 1941. His ancestors were rulers of the predecessor state of
Manikpur was founded in 1180, by Raja Manik Chand, brother of
Raja Jai Chand of
Kannauj
Kannauj ( Hindustani pronunciation: ənːɔːd͡ʒ is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is a corrupted form of the class ...
. His family belonged to the
Gaharwar
''Gaharwar'' or Gahadavala dynasty have their own legacy and are basically known as Rathore (a Rajput clan) of Suryavanshi kshatriya (claim to be descendants of lord Rama) found in the areas of Kanyakubja( today's Kannauj district of Uttar pra ...
clan of the
Manda Zamindar
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...
.
He obtained his education from
Colonel Brown Cambridge School
Colonel Brown Cambridge School is one of the oldest residential schools in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. It is an English medium school affiliated to the Indian Council of School Certificate Examination (CICSE) board of Education. The schoo ...
,
Dehradun and got his Bachelor of Arts and
Law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
degree from
Allahabad University
, mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees"
, established =
, type = Public
, chancellor = Ashish Chauhan
, vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava
, head_label ...
. He was the elected the vice president of
Allahabad University
, mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees"
, established =
, type = Public
, chancellor = Ashish Chauhan
, vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava
, head_label ...
Students Union and later received a Bachelor of Science in physics from
Fergusson College
Fergusson College is an autonomous public-private college offering various courses in the streams of arts and science in the city of Pune, India. It was founded in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society. Professor Vaman Shivram Apte was its fir ...
in the
Pune University
Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Poona, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshk ...
.
Early political career
Singh was elected from
Soraon
Soraon is a town and one of eight Tehsil of Allahabad district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Soraon Tehsil consist of 404 villages/Gram Panchayats. Muhammadpur Hathigahan being most populous Gram Panchayat and Pabnah and Uthgi being leas ...
to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1969 as a member of the
Congress Party and became the
chief whip for the legislative party. He got elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971 and was appointed a Deputy Minister of Commerce by Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi in 1974. He served as the
Minister of Commerce
A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial polic ...
in 1976–77.
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
He was appointed as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1980, when Indira Gandhi was re-elected after the Janata interlude.
As Chief Minister (1980–82), he cracked down hard on
dacoity
Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquial ...
, a problem that was particularly severe in the rural districts of the southwest Uttar Pradesh. He received much favourable national publicity when he offered to resign following a self-professed failure to stamp out the problem, and again when he personally oversaw the surrender of some of the most feared dacoits of the area in 1983. The Behmai massacre provoked outrage across the country thereby causing V. P. Singh to resign in the wake of the killings. as he was the under whom
Phoolan Devi surrendered as he saved her life by instructing the police officers to not kill her in the
Police encounter
A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...
to secure the votes of Dalits (though Phoolan's 22 gang members were killed). Singh was an upper caste man and had ruled the vote bank of
upper-caste people in
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
for the
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 E ...
. He resumed his post as
Minister of Commerce
A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial polic ...
in 1983.
Leader of Rajya Sabha
After he resigned from the position of
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, he was appointed as the leader of
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
in the year 1984 and remained so until 1987. Before him the position was assigned to
Pranab Mukherjee
Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the India ...
, who was removed because he then formed his own party,
Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress. After Singh's tenure this position was given to
N. D. Tiwari. He resigned from Rajya Sabha when he left Congress in 1987.
Member of Lok Sabha
He was elected to Lok Sabha in 1971 from
Phulpur (Lok Sabha constituency)
Phulpur Lok Sabha seat, also spelled 'Phoolpur', is one of the 80 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Uttar Pradesh state in northern India. It lies in Prayagraj district. Phulpur is a historic constituency and two Indian Prime Minist ...
. He lost from
Allahabad in 1977, but won in 1980 as member of Indira Congress. He resigned from Lok Sabha when he became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in June 1980. After he resigned from Congress and quit as Rajya Sabha member in 1987, he entered Lok Sabha by winning the bye-poll for Allahabad seat vacated by
Amitabh Bachchan. He was elected to Lok Sabha from
Fatehpur (Lok Sabha constituency) in 1989 and became Prime Minister for 11 months. He was elected from Fatehpur again in 1991, the last time he contested any election.
Administerial skill
He was considered very close to
Rajiv Gandhi as well as
Indira Gandhi and was loyal to them at a time when the experienced leaders of Congress Party founded a new party,
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 E ...
, and empowered the party of Indira Gandhi (
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 E ...
). Singh was known as "Mr. Clean" because of his impeccable history and also because of his opposition for the corruption in Bofors deal, which lead the way for him to contest his own party to fight the 1989 Lok Sabha Election and become
Prime Minister of India.
Singh was responsible for managing the coalition of the Left and the
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 Mod ...
(BJP) against
Rajiv Gandhi to dethrone him in the 1989 elections. He is remembered for the important role that he played in 1989 that changed the course of Indian politics. Singh acted boldly by issuing an arrest warrant against
L. K. Advani
Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a longtime memb ...
midway through the latter's Rath Yatra.
Ministries under Central Government
Singh has been on the list as one of the senior-most and most powerful leaders of the
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 E ...
and has held many important ministry positions such as
Defence
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense indus ...
,
External Affairs
A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...
and
Finance.
Minister of Finance (1984–1987)
He was called to New Delhi following
Rajiv Gandhi's mandate in the
1984 general election. Singh was appointed to the post of
Finance Minister
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
in the
tenth Cabinet of India, where he oversaw the gradual relaxation of the
License Raj
The Licence Raj or Permit Raj (''rāj'', meaning "rule" in Hindi) was the system of licences, regulations, and accompanying red tape, that hindered the set up and running of businesses in India between 1947 and 1990. Up to 80 government agencies ...
(governmental regulation) as Gandhi had in mind. During his term as Finance Minister, he oversaw the reduction of gold smuggling by reducing gold taxes and giving the police a portion of the confiscated gold. He also gave extraordinary powers to the
Enforcement Directorate
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is a law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India. It is part of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Gover ...
of the Finance Ministry, the wing of the ministry charged with tracking down tax evaders, then headed by Bhure Lal. Singh's efforts to reduce government regulation of business and to prosecute tax fraud attracted widespread praise.
Following a number of high-profile raids on suspected evaders including
Dhirubhai Ambani
Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani (28 December 1932 – 6 July 2002), popularly known as Dhirubhai Ambani, was an Indian business tycoon who founded Reliance Industries. Ambani took Reliance public in 1977 and was worth US$2.9 billion in 2002 upon hi ...
and
Amitabh Bachchan – Gandhi was forced to sack him as Finance Minister, possibly because many of the raids were conducted on industrialists who had supported the Congress financially in the past. However, Singh's popularity was at such a pitch that only a sideways move seemed to have been possible, to the Defence Ministry (in January 1987). Then he succeeded his position to
Rajiv Gandhi.
Minister of Defence (1987)
In the year 1987, Singh was appointed on the position of
Defence Minister of India
The Minister of Defence (''Rakshā Mantrī'') is the head of the Ministry of Defence and a high ranking minister of the Government of India. The Defence Minister is one of the most senior offices in the Union Council of Ministers as well as be ...
for the first time but only for a period less than 3 months from 24 January 1987 to 12 April 1987. He was at that time preceded to
Rajiv Gandhi and succeeded in his position to
Krishna Chandra Pant
Krishna Chandra Pant (10 August 1931 – 15 November 2012) was an Indian Member of Parliament for 26 years and was the prime minister's interlocutor on Kashmir. He was a cabinet minister in the Government of India and held several constitutio ...
. At that time due to his non-corrupt image, he was also called 'Mr. Clean'.
He was not able to do any good work for Defence due to holding the position for such a short time. But his biggest work was in the import of
Bofors
AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years.
History
Located ...
. Once ensconced in South Block, Singh began to investigate the notoriously murky world of defence procurement. After a while, word began to spread that Singh possessed information about the
Bofors
AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years.
History
Located ...
defence deal (the infamous arms-procurement fraud) that could damage Gandhi's reputation. Before he could act on it, he was dismissed from the Cabinet and, in response, resigned his memberships in the Congress Party (Indira) and the Lok Sabha. The deal of Bofors also played a very crucial role in making of his
Prime Minister of India.
Minister of External Affairs (1989)
He was appointed as the 16th
Minister of External Affairs of India and remained in the position for another very short period of just 3 days from 2 December 1989 to 5 December 1989. He was succeeded by
Inder Kumar Gujral
Inder Kumar Gujral (4 December 1919 – 30 November 2012) was an Indian diplomat, politician and freedom activist who served as the 12th prime minister of India from April 1997 to March 1998.
Born in Punjab, he was influenced by nationalist ...
for the position.
Formation of Janata Dal
Together with associates
Arun Nehru
Arun Kumar Nehru (24 April 1944 – 25 July 2013) was an Indian politician and columnist. He was member of the 9th Lok Sabha from Bilhaur as a Janata Dal leader. Earlier, he was member of the 7th and 8th Lok Sabhas from Rae Bareli on an In ...
and
Arif Mohammad Khan
Arif Mohammad Khan (born 18 November 1951) is an Indian politician representing the BJP. He currently serving as the Governor of Kerala & the Chancellor of all State Universities in Kerala. He is a former Union Minister. He has held several po ...
, Singh floated an opposition party named
Jan Morcha. He was re-elected to Lok Sabha in a tightly contested by-election from Allahabad, defeating Sunil Shastri. On 11 October 1988, the birthday of the original
Janata coalition's leader
Jayaprakash 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 l ...
, Singh founded the
Janata Dal
Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...
by the merger of
Jan Morcha,
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 ...
,
Lok Dal
Lokdal or Lok Dal is an Indian political party based on agriculture policies, founded by former prime minister of India Charan Singh.
See also
* Girraj Kishore Mahaur, former MLA of Lok Dal
* Lok Dal (Charan)
* Rashtriya Lok Dal
Rashtr ...
and
Congress (S)
Indian Congress (Socialist) (IC(S)) also known as Congress (Secular) was a political party in India between 1978 and 1986.
The party was formed through a split in the Indian National Congress. Initially the party was known as the Indian Natio ...
, in order to bring together all the centrist parties opposed to the Rajiv Gandhi government, and Singh was elected the President of the Janata Dal. An opposition coalition of the Janata Dal with regional parties including the
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; DMK) is a political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu where it is currently the ruling party having a comfortable majority without coalition support and the union territory of Puducherry where it is curre ...
,
Telugu Desam Party
The Telugu Desam Party (; TDP) is an Indian regional political party operating in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana at the state and central level. Since its founding by N. T. Rama Rao (often referred to as NTR) on 29 March 1982, the party has fo ...
, and
Asom Gana Parishad
Asom Gana Parishad (translation: ''Assam People's Council'', AGP) is a state political party in Assam, India. The AGP was formed after the historic Assam Accord of 1985 and formally launched at the Golaghat Convention held from 13–14 Octobe ...
, came into being, called the
National Front, with V. P. Singh as convener,
NT Rama Rao
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), often referred to by his initials NTR, was an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for seven years over three terms. He starred ...
as president, and
P Upendra as a General Secretary.
The National Front fought
1989 General Elections after coming to an electoral understanding with
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 Mod ...
and the Left parties (the two main oppositions) that served to unify the anti-Congress vote. The National Front, with its allies, earned a simple majority in the Lok Sabha and decided to form a government. The
Bharatiya Janta 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 ...
under the leadership of
Atal Bihari Vajpayee and
Lal Krishna Advani
Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a longtime memb ...
and the Left parties such as the
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...
and the
Communist Party of India declined to serve in the government, preferring to support the government from outside.
In a meeting in the Central Hall of Parliament on 1 December, Singh proposed the name of
Devi Lal
Chaudhary Devi Lal (born Devi Dayal; 25 September 1915 – 6 April 2001) was an Indian statesman who served as 6th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1991 in the governments of V. P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar. Also popularly known as ...
as Prime Minister, in spite of the fact that he himself had been clearly projected by the anti-Congress forces as the 'clean' alternative to Rajiv Gandhi and their Prime Ministerial candidate. Chaudhary Devi Lal, a
Jat
The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...
leader from
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...
stood up and refused the nomination, and said that he would prefer to be an 'elder uncle' to the Government, and that Singh should be Prime Minister. This last part came as a clear surprise to
Chandra Shekhar
Chandra Shekhar ( 17 April 1927 – 9 August 2015) was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with ...
, the former head of the erstwhile
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 ...
, and Singh's greatest rival within the Janata Dal. Shekhar, who had clearly expected that an agreement had been forged with Lal as the consensus candidate, withdrew from the meeting and refused to serve in the Cabinet.
Singh was sworn in as
India's Prime Minister on 2 December 1989.
Prime Minister (1989 1990)
Singh held office for slightly less than a year, from 2 December 1989 to 10 November 1990. After state legislative elections in March 1990, Singh's governing coalition achieved control of both houses of India's parliament. During this time, Janata Dal came to power in five Indian states under
Om Prakash Chautala
Om Prakash Chautala (born 1 January 1935) is an Indian politician from Haryana who served as a former Chief Minister of Haryana from Indian National Lok Dal and son of 6th Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal.
Biography
Chautala is the ...
(
Banarsi Das Gupta
Banarsi Das Gupta (5 November 1917 – 29 August 2007) was an Indian politician who served as the 4th Chief Minister of Haryana state in India.
Life
Gupta was born in Bhiwani and he studied at Pilani in Rajasthan.
Gupta was a renowned ...
,
Hukam Singh),
Chimanbhai Patel
Chimanbhai Patel (3 June 1929 – 17 February 1994) was an Indian politician associated with Indian National Congress and Janata Dal, and a former Chief Minister of Gujarat state in India representing both those parties at various times. Patel ...
,
Biju Patnaik
Bijayananda Patnaik (5 March 1916 – 17 April 1997) was an Indian politician, aviator and businessman. As politician, he served twice as the Chief Minister of the State of Odisha.
Early life
His parents lived in Bellaguntha, Ganjam dist ...
,
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 ...
, and
Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialist figure and the founder of the Samajwadi Party. In the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three terms as ...
, and the National Front constituents in two more
NT Rama Rao
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), often referred to by his initials NTR, was an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for seven years over three terms. He starred ...
, and
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is an Indian Politician who was the leader of the Assam Movement, a former Chief Minister of Assam (two terms) and the former President of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a major political party in the Indian state of Assam ...
. The Janata Dal also shared power in West Bengal under
Jyoti Basu, in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
under
EK Nayanar
Erambala Krishnan Nayanar (9 December 191919 May 2004) was an Indian Communist politician of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M). He served three terms as the Chief Minister of Kerala (1980–1981, 1987–1991 and 1996–2001) fo ...
and in
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
under
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (23 October 1923 – 15 May 2010) was the 11th vice president of India. He served in that position from August 2002, when he was elected to a five-year term by the electoral college following the death of Krishan Kan ...
(supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party government from outside). Singh decided to end the Indian army's unsuccessful operation in
Sri Lanka which
Rajiv Gandhi, his predecessor, had sent to combat the Tamil separatist movement.
In
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
, Singh replaced the hard-line
Siddhartha Shankar Ray
Siddhartha Shankar Ray (20 October 1920 – 6 November 2010) was an Indian lawyer, diplomat and Indian National Congress politician from West Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices, including Union Minister of Education (1 ...
as Governor with another former bureaucrat,
Nirmal Kumar Mukarji, who moved forward on a timetable for fresh elections. Singh himself made a much-publicised visit to the
Golden Temple to ask forgiveness for
Operation Blue Star
Operation Blue Star was the codename of a military operation which was carried out by Indian security forces between 1 and 10 June 1984 in order to remove Damdami Taksal leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the building ...
and the combination of events caused the long rebellion in Punjab to die down markedly in a few months.
He also thwarted the efforts of Pakistan under
Benazir Bhutto to start a border war with India.
Exodus of Kasmiri Hindus
V. P. Singh faced his first crisis within few days of taking office, when Kashmiri militants kidnapped the daughter of his Home Minister,
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (then Chief Minister of
Jammu and Kashmir).
His government agreed to the demand for releasing militants in exchange; partly to end the storm of criticism that followed, he shortly thereafter appointed
Jagmohan
Jagmohan Malhotra (25 September 1927 – 3 May 2021), known by the mononym Jagmohan, was an Indian civil servant and politician. After working with the Indian National Congress, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1995. He served as Lieute ...
Malhotra, a former bureaucrat, as Governor of
Jammu and Kashmir.
The
Hindus
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 ...
of the
Kashmir Valley, were forced to flee the Kashmir valley as a result of being targeted by
JKLF
The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) is a militant separatist organization active in both the Indian-administered and Pakistani-administered territories of Kashmir. It was founded by Amanullah Khan, with Maqbool Bhat also credited as a ...
and Islamist insurgents during late 1989 and early 1990. Of the approximately 300,000 to 600,000 Hindus living in the Kashmir Valley in 1990 only 2,000–3,000 remain there in 2016. 19 January 1990 is widely remembered by Kashmiri Hindus as the tragic "genocide day" of being forced out of Kashmir. Before governor
Jagmohan
Jagmohan Malhotra (25 September 1927 – 3 May 2021), known by the mononym Jagmohan, was an Indian civil servant and politician. After working with the Indian National Congress, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1995. He served as Lieute ...
took over and the governor's rule was imposed and the army deployed in January 1990, Hindus in the valley, were killed. Of the 2,150 incidents of violence, 2100 attacks were against civilians. The
Home Minister
The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minist ...
at that time
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was blamed for this act and was called it as the support of the
Islamic insurgents to establish
Islamic state
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
in
Jammu and Kashmir (state)
Jammu and Kashmir was a region formerly administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019, constituting the southern and southeastern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India, Pakistan an ...
.
62 Amendment of 1989 and SC-ST Act
In the year 1989, the government by Singh implemented the
SC-ST Act of 1989 to prevent the atrocities against the members of
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
. It was enacted when the provisions of the existing laws (such as the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 and Indian Penal Code) were found to be inadequate to check these crimes (defined as 'atrocities' in the Act). Recognising the continuing gross indignities and offences against Scheduled Castes and Tribes, the Parliament passed the '
Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. The objectives of the Act clearly emphasised the intention of the government to deliver justice to these communities through proactive efforts to enable them to live in society with dignity and self-esteem and without fear or violence or suppression from the dominant castes. The practice of
untouchability
Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...
, in its overt and covert form was made a cognizable and non-compoundable offence, and strict punishment is provided for any such offence. The act was finally passed somehow with controversies.
Mandal Commission report
Singh himself wished to move forward nationally on social justice-related issues, which would, in addition, consolidate the caste coalition that supported the
Janata Dal
Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...
in northern India, and accordingly decided to implement the recommendations of the
Mandal Commission which suggested that a fixed quota of all jobs in the public sector be
reserved
Reserved is a Polish apparel retailer headquartered in Gdańsk, Pomerania, Poland. It was founded in 1999 and remains the largest company of the LPP group, which has more than 1,700 retail stores located in over 20 countries and also owns such ...
for members of the historically disadvantaged called
Other Backward Classes
The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, ...
.
This decision led to widespread protests among the
upper caste youth in urban areas in northern India. OBC reservation (less creamy layer) was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2008. Culturally unique features of the protests and riots were
bandhs (a version of a strike),
hartal
Hartal () is a term in many Indian languages for a strike action that was first used during the Indian independence movement (also known as the nationalist movement) of the early 20th century. A hartal is a mass protest, often involving a total s ...
s (a version of a municipal shut-down),
dharna
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to m ...
s (a version of swarming). Articles also highlighted politicians and victims of rioting during the protests. Although not advisable, late summer travel by airline and vehicle during the protests was possible without delays, between capitals New Delhi and Chandigarh, and Shimla for example.
Police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
prevented extending the range and duration of the strikes, and some strike activity from even occurring. A national state of emergency was largely not declared to mobilize army units against any one demonstration. The strike helped to give large popularity to the
Mandal Commission report and fueled the political grouping of the
OBC castes, which later helped a lot for the strengthening of regional political parties and stronger parties other than
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 ...
and
BJP
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 Mo ...
. Due to the loss of the votes of the
backward caste neither party opposed it and on seeing the protest nor parties declined it.
Even after the passing of the reservations for the
Other Backward Class
The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, ...
, he was never accepted by them and his upper-caste voters also who didn't have trust him.
Afterward, OBC leaders flexed their political power and outnumbered upper and lower castes to gain political power in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. The OBC leaders rejected to share power with lower caste leaders.
Tug of war with the Reliance group
In 1990, the government-owned financial institutions like the
Life Insurance Corporation of India
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is an Indian central public sector undertaking headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
The Life Insurance Corporation of ...
and the
General Insurance Corporation of India
General Insurance Corporation of India Limited abbreviated as GIC Re is a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It was incorporated on 22 November 1972 under Companies Act, 1956. GIC ...
stonewalled attempts by the Reliance group to acquire managerial control over
Larsen & Toubro
Larsen & Toubro Ltd, commonly known as L&T, is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, with business interests in engineering, construction, manufacturing, technology, information technology and financial services, headquartered in Mumba ...
. Sensing defeat, the Ambanis resigned from the board of the company.
Dhirubhai, who had become Larsen & Toubro's chairman in April 1989, had to quit his position to make way for D. N. Ghosh, former chairman of the
State Bank of India.
Ram temple issue and the fall of the coalition
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party was moving its own agenda forward. In particular, the
Ram Janmabhoomi
Ram Janmabhoomi (literally, "Rama's birthplace") is the site that is hypothesized to be the birthplace of Rama, believed to be the seventh avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. The Ramayana states that the location of Rama's birthplace is on the ...
agitation, which served as a rallying cry for several Hindu organisations, took on a new life. The party president,
LK Advani
Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a longtime memb ...
, with
Pramod Mahajan
Pramod Vyankatesh Mahajan (30 October 1949 – 3 May 2006) was an Indian politician from Maharashtra. A second-generation leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he belonged to a group of relatively young " technocratic" leaders. At the time ...
as aide, toured the northern states on a ''rath'' – a bus converted to look like a mythical chariot – with the intention of drumming up support. Before he could complete the tour by reaching the disputed site in
Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and setting of the great epic Ramayana. Ayodhya wa ...
, he was arrested by
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 ...
's orders at
Samastipur
Samastipur is a city and a municipal corporation (nagar nigam) in Bihar, India. It is the headquarter of Samastipur district and comes under Darbhanga division. The Budhi Gandak river flows through the town. It is one of the five railway divisi ...
on the charges of disturbing the peace and fomenting communal tension. Lalu wanted to prevent the communal clashes which took place at different places for this Rath Yatra, and also Bihar faced a similar scenario in 1989 due to the Shilanyas by Rajiv Gandhi Government. Karsevaks reached the site on 30 October 1990, and by the orders of
Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialist figure and the founder of the Samajwadi Party. In the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three terms as ...
police fired openly upon the Kar sevaks. A deadly riot took place in Ayodhya on 2 November.
This led to the Bharatiya Janata Party's suspension of support to the National Front government. VP Singh faced the vote of no confidence in the Lok Sabha saying that he occupied the high moral ground, as he stood for secularism, had saved the Babri Masjid at the cost of power and had upheld the fundamental principles which were challenged during the crises. "What kind of India do you want?" he asked of his opponents in Parliament, before losing the vote 142–346; only a portion of the National Front remaining loyal to him and the
Left parties supported him in the vote.
And then, Singh resigned on 7 November 1990.
The Chandra Shekhar government
Chandra Shekhar immediately seized the moment and left the Janata Dal with several of his own supporters (including
Devi Lal
Chaudhary Devi Lal (born Devi Dayal; 25 September 1915 – 6 April 2001) was an Indian statesman who served as 6th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1991 in the governments of V. P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar. Also popularly known as ...
,
Janeshwar Mishra
Janeshwar Mishra (5 August 1933 – 22 January 2010) was a politician from Samajwadi Party. He was a member of the Parliament of India and also represented Uttar Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He was ...
,
HD Deve Gowda,
Maneka Gandhi
Maneka Sanjay Gandhi (also spelled Menaka; ''née'' Anand) (born 26 August 1956) is an Indian politician, animal rights activist, and environmentalist. She is a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament and a member of ...
,
Ashoke Kumar Sen
Ashoke Kumar Sen (10 October 1913 – 21 September 1996) was an Indian barrister, a former Cabinet minister of India, and an Indian parliamentarian.
He also holds the record for winning a Lok Sabha seat the most times and also the record for b ...
,
Subodh Kant Sahay
Shri Subodh Kant Sahay (born 11 June 1951) is an Indian politician. He served as three term MP (Lok sabha) of India. He represented the Ranchi constituency of Jharkhand and is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) political party. He ...
,
Om Prakash Chautala
Om Prakash Chautala (born 1 January 1935) is an Indian politician from Haryana who served as a former Chief Minister of Haryana from Indian National Lok Dal and son of 6th Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal.
Biography
Chautala is the ...
,
Hukam Singh,
Chimanbhai Patel
Chimanbhai Patel (3 June 1929 – 17 February 1994) was an Indian politician associated with Indian National Congress and Janata Dal, and a former Chief Minister of Gujarat state in India representing both those parties at various times. Patel ...
,
Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialist figure and the founder of the Samajwadi Party. In the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three terms as ...
,
Yashwant Sinha
Yashwant Sinha (, born 6 November 1937) is an Indian administrator and politician. He served as the Minister of Finance from 1990 until 1991 under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and again from March 1998 to July 2002 under Prime Minister Atal B ...
,
VC Shukla, and
Sanjay Singh) to form the
Samajwadi Janata Party/Janata Dal (Socialist). Although Chandra Shekhar had a mere 64 MPs,
Rajiv Gandhi the leader of the Opposition, agreed to support him on the floor of the House; so he won a confidence motion and was sworn in as Prime Minister. Eight Janata Dal MPs who voted for this motion were disqualified by the speaker
Rabi Ray
Rabi Ray (26 November 1926 – 6 March 2017) was an Indian socialist politician, a Gandhian, a speaker of the Lok Sabha and a former Union minister. He hailed from Odisha. He joined the Socialist Party in 1948, and later became member of the Sam ...
. His government lasted only a few months before he resigned and called for fresh elections.
Post-premiership and death
VP Singh contested the new elections but his party was relegated to the opposition chiefly due to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi (May 1991) during the election campaign, and he later retired from active politics. He spent the next few years touring the country speaking about matters related to issues of social justice and his artistic pursuits, chiefly painting.
In 1992, Singh was the first to propose the name of the future President
KR Narayanan
Kocheril Raman Narayanan (27 October 1921 – 9 November 2005) was an Indian statesman, diplomat, academic, and politician who served as the 9th Vice President of India from 1992 to 1997 and 10th President of India from 1997 to 2002 .
Born i ...
as a (eventually successful) candidate for vice president. Later the same year in December, he led his followers to
Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and setting of the great epic Ramayana. Ayodhya wa ...
to oppose the Karseva proposed by
LK Advani
Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a longtime memb ...
, and was arrested before he could reach the site; the Masjid was demolished by the
Karsevaks a few days later. In 1996, the Congress party lost the general elections and Singh was the natural choice of the winning United Front (Singh was one of the forces behind the broad United Front coalition) for the post of Prime Minister. But he declined the offer made to him by communist veteran
Jyoti Basu, Bihar strongman
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 ...
and almost all leaders of the Janata family.
In an interview with
Shekhar Gupta in July 2005, Singh said that he had resigned from the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet due to differences that arose in the dealing of information regarding commissions taken by Indian agents in the
HDW submarine deal, and not due to Bofors.
In April 1987, Singh received a secret telegram from J.C.Ajmani, the
Indian ambassador in West Germany. The telegram stated that Indian agents had received large commissions in the HDW deal. These commissions amounted to a staggering Rs. 32.55 crore (7% of the agreed price). Singh informed Rajiv Gandhi about this and instituted an inquiry. However, the handling of this case led to differences and Singh finally resigned from the cabinet.
Singh was diagnosed with cancer in 1998 and ceased public appearances. When his cancer went into remission in 2003, he once again became a visible figure, especially in the many groupings that had inherited the space once occupied by his
Janata Dal
Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...
. He relaunched the
Jan Morcha in 2006 with actor-turned-politician
Raj Babbar
Raj Babbar (born 23 June 1952) is an Indian Hindi and Punjabi film actor and politician belonging to Indian National Congress. three-time member of the Lok Sabha and a two-time member of the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. He was the Pre ...
as president. After Jan Morcha drew a blank in the 2007 UP elections, Raj Babbar joined the Congress, and Singh's elder son
Ajeya Singh took over the reins of the party in anticipation of the 2009 General elections. Ajeya Singh then contested as Jan Morcha candidate from Fatehpur, but lost to
Rakesh Sachan
Rakesh Sachan (born 20 December 1964) is an Indian politician and currently a Cabinet minister in Ministry of MSME, Khadi, Village Industries, Sericulture, Textile, Government of Uttar Pradesh & Member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly 20 ...
of the
Samajwadi Party. The
Jan Morcha was renamed as the National Jan Morcha in June 2009. A month later, the Jan Morcha merged with the
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 E ...
. Singh was placed under arrest in
Ghaziabad
Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziabad Mun ...
as he and his supporters were proceeding towards a hauling where prohibitory orders under
Section 144 Unlawful assembly is a legal term to describe a group of people with the mutual intent of deliberate disturbance of the peace. If the group is about to start an act of disturbance, it is termed a rout; if the disturbance is commenced, it is then ter ...
had been imposed to join the farmers agitating against the acquisition of land at
Dadri
Dadri is a town and a municipal board in Gautam Buddha Nagar District in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Dadri Railway Station is a complex yard in North Central Railway spread over six kilometers on busiest route of Delhi–Kanpur–Pat ...
by the
Anil Ambani
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (born 4 June 1959) is an Indian businessman. He was the chairman of Reliance Group (also known as Reliance ADA Group), which was created in July 2006 following a demerger from Reliance Industries Limited. He leads a numbe ...
-owned Reliance Industries and demanding adequate compensation. Later, Singh and CPI General Secretary
AB Bardhan were again arrested on the UP border when they were proceeding to Dadri. However, Singh and Babbar were later able to evade the police, reaching Dadri on 18 August 2006, and ploughing the land in solidarity with the farmers.
Singh died after a very long struggle with
multiple myeloma and kidney failure at
Apollo Hospital
Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited is an Indian multinational healthcare group headquartered in Chennai. Along with the eponymous hospital chain, the company also operates pharmacies, primary care and diagnostic centres, telehealth clinics, ...
in Delhi on 27 November 2008, aged 77. He was cremated at
Allahabad on the banks of the River
Ganges
The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
on 29 November 2008, his son
Ajeya Singh lighting the funeral pyre. He was cremated with full state honour.
Office held
Political Offices
Political Positions
Personal life
![D_Roopa_IPS](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/D_Roopa_IPS.jpg)
Singh married Princess Sita Kumari, the daughter of the Raja of Deogarh-Madaria, Rajasthan, on 25 June 1955. It was an arranged marriage. He turned 24 on the day of the marriage, and she was 18. Kumari was a
Sisodia Rajput descended from
Maharana Pratap
Pratap Singh I, popularly known as Maharana Pratap (c. 9 May 1540 – 19 January 1597), was a king of Mewar from the Sisodia dynasty. Pratap became a folk hero for his military resistance against the expansionism of the Mughal Empire under A ...
of
Udaipur
Udaipur () ( ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic cap ...
. The couple had two sons,
Ajeya Singh (born 1957), a chartered accountant in New York City, and Abhai Singh (born 1958), a doctor at the
All India Institute of Medical Sciences
The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare , Government of India. These institutes ha ...
in New Delhi. After his death, his elder son
Ajeya Singh was sworned as the 42nd
Raja Bahadur
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...
of the
Manda estate in 2007 and in the year 2009 after two years of Singh's death, he merged his party
Jan Morcha with
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 E ...
.
Cultural legacy
Films
# Juliet Reynolds, an art critic and a close friend of Singh, made a short documentary on him, titled ''The Art of the Impossible'' (45 minutes long), and covers his political and artistic career.
#
Suma Josson made another film on Singh titled ''One More Day to Live''.
#
Shekhar Gupta, had interview with Singh in the year 2007, titled ''Walk The Talk with V. P. Singh.''
Books connected
#
#
#
#
See also
*
List of Rajputs
*
Ram Rath Yatra
The ''Ram Rath Yatra'' was a political and religious rally that lasted from September to October 1990. It was organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Hindu nationalist affiliates, and led by the then-president of the BJP, L. K. ...
*
List of prime ministers of India
*
Ministry of Defence (India)
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) (IAST: ''Rakshā Mantrālaya'') is charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Indian Armed Forces.
The President of Indi ...
*
Ministry of External Affairs (India)
The Ministry of External Affairs (abbreviated as MEA; hi, विदेश मंत्रालय, Videśa Mantrālaya, translit-std=ISO) of India is the government agency responsible for implementing Indian foreign policy. The Ministry of Ex ...
*
Minister of Finance (India)
The Minister of Finance (Vitta Mantrī ) (or simply, the Finance Minister, short form FM) is the head of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. One of the senior offices of the Union Cabinet, the finance minister is responsible fo ...
*
Seema Mustafa
Seema Mustafa (born 20 April 1955) is an Indian print and television journalist. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of The Citizen, a digital newspaper she founded. She is the elected president of the Editors Guild of India, since 16 October 20 ...
*
Chandra Shekhar
Chandra Shekhar ( 17 April 1927 – 9 August 2015) was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with ...
*
Janata Dal
Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...
*
Devi Lal
Chaudhary Devi Lal (born Devi Dayal; 25 September 1915 – 6 April 2001) was an Indian statesman who served as 6th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1991 in the governments of V. P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar. Also popularly known as ...
*
V. P. Singh ministry
*
Manda (zamindari)
Manda ( hi, मांडा) was a zamindari, with lands located near Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, in northern India.
History
The predecessor state of Manikpur was founded in 1180, by Raja Manik Chand, brother of Raja Jai Chand of Kannauj. Raj ...
*
Jan Morcha
*
1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
External links
Prime minister's office*Speech opposing the
India-US nuclear deal , Oct. 2007.
*
*
, -
, -
, -
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Vishwanath Pratap
1931 births
2008 deaths
20th-century prime ministers of India
India MPs 1971–1977
India MPs 1980–1984
India MPs 1984–1989
India MPs 1989–1991
India MPs 1991–1996
Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh
Chief ministers from Indian National Congress
Commerce and Industry Ministers of India
Deaths from cancer in India
Deaths from kidney failure
Deaths from multiple myeloma
Defence Ministers of India
Education Ministers of India
Fergusson College alumni
Finance Ministers of India
Indian Hindus
Indian political party founders
Indian socialists
Janata Dal politicians
Leaders of the Rajya Sabha
Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh
Ministers for Corporate Affairs
Ministers for External Affairs of India
People from Fatehpur district
Politicians from Allahabad
Prime Ministers of India
Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh
Savitribai Phule Pune University alumni
University and college founders
University of Allahabad alumni
Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1980–1985
V. P. Singh administration
People of the Sri Lankan Civil War
Indian Peace Keeping Force