Bali Ram Bhagat (7 October 1922 – 2 January 2011) was an Indian politician and member 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 ...

(INC). He has served as

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 ...

(MP) in

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 ...

representing

Arrah Arrah (also transliterated as Ara) is a city and a municipal corporation in Bhojpur district (formerly known as Shahabad district) in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the headquarters of Bhojpur district, located near the confluence of the G ...

from 1952 to 1977 and 1984 to 1989. Bhagat has also served as the 6th

Speaker of the Lok Sabha The speaker of the Lok Sabha ( IAST: ) is the presiding officer and the highest official of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. The speaker is elected generally in the first meeting of the Lok Sabha following general e ...

and 13th Foreign Minister of India. Bhagat was born into a wealth
Yadav
family in

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

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 ...

in October 1922. He joined the Indian National Congress in 1939 during 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 ...

and participated in the Quit India movement. He received a bachelor's degree from

Patna College Patna College is a constituent state aided College of Patna University which is established in 1863 during the British Raj, is one of the oldest colleges in the state of Bihar, India. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in science, ...

and obtained a master's degree in economics from

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 e ...

. After independence, he served as the Member of Parliament from

for six terms including the first five terms (1952-1977 & 1984-1989). Bhagat lost his seat to

Chandradeo Prasad Verma Chandradeo Prasad Verma (21 January 1921– 30 April 2005) was a politician who was elected to the Lok Sabha's lower house of the Parliament of India from the Arrah, Bihar in 1977, 1980 and 1996. He was the Union Minister of State for Rural ...

in the 1977 general election, where the Congress lost power in India for the first time. Between 1963 and 1967, Bhagat served as the Minister of State for Planning as well as Finance. He was a Minister in the Ministry of Defence for a short period in 1967 before he became the Minister of State for External Affairs in the same year. Bhagat became a member of the cabinet in 1969 when he was appointed the Minister of Foreign Trade and Supply. Later, he was the Minister of Steel and Heavy Engineering for a period of eight months. Bhagat served as the

Speaker of Lok Sabha The speaker of the Lok Sabha ( IAST: ) is the presiding officer and the highest official of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. The speaker is elected generally in the first meeting of the Lok Sabha following general e ...

from 1976 to 1977, during the turbulent final year of Indira Gandhi’s first reign as prime minister. He served as Minister for External Affairs of India under Indira's son, Rajiv Gandhi, from 1985 to 1986. He was

governor of Himachal Pradesh This is a list of governors of Himachal Pradesh. Sh.Rajendra Arlekar, Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar is the 21st governor (30th if governors with additional charge also counted) of Himachal Pradesh since July 2021. Out of the regular 20 governors ...

briefly during 1993, and

governor of Rajasthan A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

from 1993 to 1998. Bali Ram Bhagat died in New Delhi on 2 January 2011.

Positions held

Bali Ram Bhagat has served 7 times as

MP (6 times from

and once from Sitamarhi). He lost the 6th and

9th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 9th Lok Sabha (2 December 1989 – 13 March 1991) elections in 22–26 November 1989. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. Twelve sitting members from Rajya Sabha were elec ...

election from

in 1977 and 1989 respectively and the

10th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 10th Lok Sabha, (20 June 1991 – 10 May 1996) elected during 1991 Indian general election held during May–June 1991. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India, four sitting membe ...

election from

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 ...

in 1991. Note * The ''Patna-cum-Shahabad'' constituency was renamed as ''Shahabad'' constituency in the

2nd Lok Sabha The Second Lok Sabha (5 April 1957 – 31 March 1962) was elected after the 1957 Indian general election. The 2nd Lok Sabha lasted its full tenure of five years till 1962. 15 sitting members from Rajya Sabha were elected to 2nd Lok Sabha after ...

(1957). * The ''Shahabad'' constituency was renamed as ''Arrah'' constituency in the 6th Lok Sabha (1977).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhagat, Bali Ram 1922 births 2011 deaths India MPs 1952–1957 India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1962–1967 India MPs 1967–1970 India MPs 1971–1977 India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1984–1989 Commerce and Industry Ministers of India Governors of Himachal Pradesh Governors of Rajasthan Indian National Congress (U) politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Bihar Lok Sabha members from Bihar Members of the Cabinet of India Ministers for External Affairs of India People from Arrah People from Samastipur district Politicians from Patna Speakers of the Lok Sabha Steel Ministers of India