Arjun Singh (5 November 1930 – 4 March 2011) was an Indian politician from 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 ...

, who served twice as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in the 1980s. He also served twice as the Union Minister of Human Resource Development, in the

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indi ...

and

P. V. Narasimha Rao Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer, statesman and politician who served as the 9th prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He is known for introducing various liberal reforms to Indi ...

ministries.

Early life

Arjun Singh was the son of

Shiv Bahadur Singh Rao Shiv Bahadur Singh (1894–1955) was an Indian politician with the Indian National Congress party, who was convicted in 1950 of taking bribes to issue a forged document for a diamond mining firm. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment ...

, a jagirdar and the 26th Rao of

Churhat Churhat is a town, near the town of Sidhi and a nagar panchayat in Sidhi district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. Demographics India census, Churhat had a population of 13,102. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 4 ...

thikana, and an INC politician.

Career

Shri Arjun Singh assumes the charge of Union Minister for Human Resource Development in New Delhi on May 24, 2004

Arjun Singh was first elected to the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly in

1957 1957 (Roman numerals, MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday, common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, t ...

from Majholi as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

candidate. He joined the

in 1960. He was re-elected from Majholi in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wo ...

and became a minister in the INC government of

Dwarka Prasad Mishra Dwarka Prasad Mishra (1901–1988) was an Indian politician, writer and journalist. He was a member of the Indian National Congress and served as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for two terms during the 1960s. An Indian freedom fighter ...

. In

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establ ...

, he lost the election from

due to a fallout with the then chief minister

. However, he won a bypoll in the same year from Umaria. He was elected from Sidhi in 1972 and became a minister in the INC government of

Prakash Chandra Sethi Prakash Chandra Sethi (19 October 1919 – 21 February 1996) was an Indian National Congress politician who served as Minister of Home Affairs (1982–84) and as the 8th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (1972–75). He was twice the chief mi ...

. In

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrati ...

, he was elected from

and became the

Leader of Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically s ...

in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. In 1980, when INC achieved a simple majority in the assembly, he won from Churhat and became the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital city, capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar, and Rewa, India, Rewa being the othe ...

, despite the presence of strong contenders such as Sethi,

Vidya Charan Shukla Vidya Charan Shukla (2 August 1929 – 11 June 2013) was an Indian politician whose political career spanned six decades. He was predominantly a member of the Indian National Congress, but also had spells in Jan Morcha, Janata Dal, Samajw ...

and Shiv Bhanu Singh Solanki. His five year term was marked by the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. He led the INC to victory in 1985, yet again winning from Churhat, but was forced to resign as Chief Minister after just one day due to differences with Sriniwas Tiwari. Motilal Vora succeeded him as Chief Minister. He resigned his Madhya Pradesh assembly seat and was appointed Governor of Punjab in 1985. He worked for the implementation of the Rajiv-Longowal Accord for peace 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 ...

. However, after eight months, he resigned as Governor and became Minister of Commerce in the

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to bec ...

cabinet. He was elected to 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-pas ...

from South Delhi in a bypoll in 1985, necessitated by the assassination of the sitting MP Lalit Maken.He was appointed as First Vice President of

. In 1986, he resigned the Commerce ministry and was appointed Minister of Communications. He held this post till 1988 when he returned to the Government of Madhya Pradesh and again became Chief Minister of the state. He resigned his

seat and won a bypoll to the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Kharsia in 1988. However, he resigned as Chief Minister in 1989 owing to the Churhat lottery scam, and was succeeded by Motilal Vora. He won in 1990 from Churhat. In

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

, he won from Satna. He resigned his assembly seat and harboured ambitions of becoming

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

after the assassination of

. However,

became Prime Minister and Singh was appointed the Minister of Human Resource Development. He publicly expressed discontent with the Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao after the

Babri Masjid demolition The demolition of the Babri Masjid was illegally carried out on 6 December 1992 by a large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations. The 16th-century Babri Masjid in the city of Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh, h ...

. He resigned as Minister of Human Resource Development in 1994. In 1996, he rebelled against the INC leadership and formed the

All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) The All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) was a political party in India set up by dissident Indian National Congress party leaders Narayan Datt Tiwari, Arjun Singh, Natwar Singh and Rangarajan Kumaramangalam. The party later merged with the C ...

along with Narayan Dutt Tiwari. However, he lost in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

from Satna. Later, he returned to INC after the emergence of Sonia Gandhi. He lost in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

from Hoshangabad. He was elected to the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, wikisource:Constitution of India/Part V#Article 80, 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 legisl ...

in 2000 from

, and was re-elected in 2006. He was awarded the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 2000. He served as Minister of Human Resource Development from 2004 to 2009 in the

cabinet.

Controversies

Bhopal Incident

Arjun Singh was the Chief Minister of

when the deadly gas leak from the

Union Carbide Union Carbide Corporation is an American chemical corporation wholly owned subsidiary (since February 6, 2001) by Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers befor ...

factory occurred. It is widely alleged that on the fateful night between 2 and 3 December 1984, when the gas leak occurred, Arjun Singh fled to his Kerwa Dam Palace (outside

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It ...

) to save himself from deadly effects of leaked gas and was not available to manage the crisis or lead the administration. Subsequently, the Arjun Singh government's mishandling was criticised by the court in the verdict on the Bhopal disaster as pronounced by the Chief Judicial Magistrate,

on 7 June 2010. The media raised serious questions about his role in the release of Warren Anderson. In particular, the pilot of the aircraft in which Warren Anderson flew out of India after the gas leak, has recorded that the final sanction to permit the flight came from Arjun Singh's office.

Churhat Lottery case and Kerwa Dam palace

While Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Singh was involved in the scandal known as the Churhat Lottery case. The Churhat Children Welfare Society was floated in 1982 by relatives of Singh, and permitted to raise funds via lottery, and also given tax relief as a charity. However, there were widespread allegations that substantial sums of money were siphoned off from donations and used to construct the lavish Kerwa Dam Palace near Bhopal. The donations to the society included a Rs 150,000 donation from

, whose chief Warren Anderson was permitted to leave the country after the gas leak, allegedly by Arjun Singh's office. At a public litigation hearing, the

Madhya Pradesh High Court The Madhya Pradesh High Court is the High Court of the state of Madhya Pradesh which is located in Jabalpur. It was established as the Nagpur High Court on 2 January 1936 by Letters Patent dated 2 January 1936, issued under Section 108 the '' ...

observed that "Arjun Singh owed an explanation to the nation about the costs and sources of construction of the palatial mansion in Bhopal". While Singh had claimed the value of the palace was Rs 1.8 million, the IT Department estimated the cost at above Rs one crore. However, a one-judge commission investigating the scandal gave a clean chit to Arjun Singh. The case was re-opened however, after the Jain Hawala case, and Singh was asked to submit fresh re-estimates of the palace cost. In court, the case was argued by Kapil Sibal and the order for re-examination was squashed on the grounds that it had been issued in a haste and "had not applied his mind".

Other controversies

After the Mumbai train bombings of 2006, he reportedly quoted at a Cabinet meeting the statements of a former judge of the Maharashtra High Court that an earlier attempt on the headquarters of the Hindu revivalist

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family ...

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

had been a plot set into motion by the Sangh itself. This followed his denouncement of the Ekal Vidyalayas, one-teacher schools run for the benefit of the tribals of India by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad., as

communal Communal may refer to: *A commune or also intentional community * Communalism (Bookchin) * Communalism (South Asia), the South Asian sectarian ideologies *Relating to an administrative division called comune * Sociality in animals *Community owne ...

. A case under the Anti-Dowry Act was registered against Arjun Singh in 2007. The then

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 ...

government had decided to seek CBI inquiry into dowry harassment case. Arjun Singh was accused of irregularities and corruption in the grant of "Deemed University" status to private for-profit educational institutions which did not meet requisite educational standards, during his tenure as Minister for Human Resources Development. The Government of India initiated proceedings to repeal the "Deemed University" status of 44 such institutions in January 2010.

Death

Singh died on 4 March 2011, at the age of 80. He had been admitted 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 wi ...

's All India Institute of Medical Sciences with chest pain and neurological problems, and died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

. He was cremated at his home town of

Family

Arjun Singh's son Ajay Singh aka Rahul Bhaiya is an INC politician and former

in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. His grandson is Arunoday Singh, a Bollywood actor. Another grandson of his, Yuvaraja Aishwarya Singh of Singrauli is married to Devyani Rana, great-granddaughter of Mohan Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, the last Shree Teen Maharaja of Nepal. Devyani’s father-

His Highness Highness (abbreviation HH, oral address Your Highness) is a formal style used to address (in second person) or refer to (in third person) certain members of a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty. It is typically used with a possessive adjecti ...

Shree Teen

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great Monarch, king" or "high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Em ...

Pashupati Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana is the titular Shree Teen Maharaja of Nepal.

Positions held

* 1957 - 1985 Member, Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly * 1963 - 1967 Minister of State for Agriculture, General Administration Department (GAD) and Information & Public Relations, Government of Madhya Pradesh * 1967 Minister of Planning and Development, Government of Madhya Pradesh * 1972 - 1977 Minister of Education, Government of Madhya Pradesh * 1977 - 1980

, Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly * 1980 - 1985 Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh * 1985 - 1985 Governor of Punjab * 1985 - 1988

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 Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

* 1985 - 1986 Minister of Commerce,

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, ...

* 1986 - 1988 Minister of Communications,

* 1988 - 1991 Member, Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly * 1988 - 1989 Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh * 1991 - 1996

* 1991 - 1994 Minister of Human Resource Development,

* 2000 - 2011

* 2000 - 2004 Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Home Affairs * 2001 - 2004 Member, Committee on Rules * 2002 - 2004 Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Purposes Committee * 2004 - 2009 Minister of Human Resource Development,

Elections contested

- Won from Majholi ( IND) *

- Won from Majholi ( INC) *

- Lost from

( INC) * 1967 - Won Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly bypoll from Umaria ( INC) * 1972 - Won from Sidhi ( INC) *

- Won from

( INC) * 1980 - Won from

( INC) * 1985 - Won from

( INC) * 1985 - Won

bypoll from South Delhi ( IND) * 1988 - Won Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly bypoll from Kharsia ( INC) * 1990 - Won from

( INC) *

- Won from Satna ( INC) *

- Lost from Satna ( AIICT) *

- Lost from Hoshangabad ( INC) * 2000 - Won

election from

( INC) * 2006 - Won