Balram Jakhar (23 August 1923 – 3 February 2016) was an Indian politician, who served as the

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

Governor of Madhya Pradesh The governor of Madhya Pradesh is a nominal head and representative of the president of India in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The governor is appointed by the president for a period of five years. Governors of Madhya Pradesh See also * Madh ...

. He was also the longest serving

Early life and education

Jakhar was born in a Hindu

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 subseq ...

family in

Panjkosi Panjkosi is a village in the Western part of Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically i ...

village of

Fazilka district Fazilka district is one of new and 23 districts in the state of Punjab in India. The district headquarters of the Fazilka District are at Fazilka. History On 27 July 2011, the Government of Punjab created two new districts: Fazilka district ...

in Punjab now in

Fazilka Fazilka, also known as Bangla, is a city and a municipal council in Fazilka district of Punjab, India. In 2011, it was made the headquarter of the newly created Fazilka district. The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAPI) project originating in Tu ...

on 23 August 1923. His father was Chaudhari Rajaram Jakhar and his mother was Pattodevi Jakhar. Jakhar earned a degree in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

from

Forman Christian College Forman Christian College is an private liberal arts university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was founded in 1864 and is administered by the Presbyterian Church. The university follows an American-style curriculum. Founded in 1864 by Ameri ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest ...

, in 1945. He had knowledge of English, Punjabi,

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

, Sanskrit and

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

languages.

Politician

A lifelong member of the Congress party, Jakhar founded the Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, a farmers' organization, in 1965. He was elected to the

Punjab Legislative Assembly The Punjab Legislative Assembly or the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the state of Punjab in India. The Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted in March 2022. At present, it consists of 117 members, direct ...

in 1972 and was re-elected in 1977, becoming the Leader of the Opposition. Pandit Ram Kishore Shukla with Dr

Jakhar then moved to national politics. He was elected in 1980 to the seventh

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

Ferozepur Firozpur, also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in Firozpur District, Punjab, India. After the partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan border with memorials to soldiers who di ...

and in 1984 to the eighth Lok Sabha from

Sikar Sikar is a city and municipal council in the Sikar district of the state of Rajasthan in India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Sikar district. It is part of the Shekhawati region, which consists of Sikar, Churu and Jhunjhun ...

. He had the distinction of being elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha during his very first term in the house. Furthermore, served twice as

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 ...

, a rare achievement in Indian parliament history, holding office from 1980 to 1989, thus became the longest serving speaker in history. As Speaker of Lok Sabha, he promoted automation and computerization of Parliamentary works. He promoted Parliament library, reference, research, documentation and information services for the knowledge and use of members of Parliament. The establishment of

Parliament Museum The Parliament Museum is a museum in the Parliament of India Library Building in New Delhi, close to the Sansad Bhavan. It was inaugurated by then Speaker of Lok Sabha on 29 December 1989, in Parliament House Annexe, subsequently it shifted to i ...

was his contribution. He was the first Asian to be elected Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentarian Executive Forum. The Sikar parliamentary seat was won by Devi Lal in the elections of 1989. In 1991, Jakhar was again elected to parliament from the Sikar constituency and his party returned to power in India. Jakhar was made Union Agriculture minister under Prime Minister

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 ...

in 1991. After the Congress party returned to power in 2004, he was appointed Governor of

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 ...

and served from 30 June 2004 to 30 May 2009.

Personal life

Jakhar was born into an affluent land-owning ] Hinduism, Hindu

family. His father was Chaudhari Rajaram Jakhar and his mother was Pattodevi Jakhar. Balram Jakhar was the father of three sons: *Sajjan Kumar Jakhar, the eldest son, is a former minister in the

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 ...

government. His son, Ajay Vir Jakhar, is Chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, a farmer organization, and writes frequently on farmer issues in reputed newspapers. *Surinder Jakhar, second son, died of a self-inflicted bullet injury (probably accidental) in 2011, during the lifetime of his father. Surinder served as chairman of Asia’s cooperative fertiliser giant IFFCO for four terms and chief of Asian Cooperative Alliance for two terms. Surinder is the father of

Sandeep Jakhar Sandeep Jakhar is an Indian politician and member of Indian National Congress. He is currently serving as a member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly from Abohar. He defeated BJP Leader Arun Narang from Abohar in 2022 Punjab Assembly Elections. ...

, one of very few candidates who managed to win on a Congress party ticket in the Punjab assembly election of 2022. *

Sunil Jakhar Sunil Kumar Jakhar (born 9 February 1954) is an Indian politician and member of Bharatiya Janata Party, who was formerly president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (2017- 2021). Elected consecutively three times from Abohar, Punjab constitue ...

, youngest son. A three time MLA from

Abohar Abohar is a city and municipal corporation in the Fazilka district of the Indian state of Punjab, southeast of Fazilka city and northeast of Sri Ganganagar. It is near the India-Pakistan border. Abohar's population is 211745. The city is know ...

, he became Leader of the Opposition in Punjab in March 2012. He was elected to parliament from

Gurdaspur Gurdaspur is a city in the Indian state of Punjab, between the rivers Beas and Ravi. It houses the administrative headquarters of Gurdaspur District and is in the geographical centre of the district, which shares a border with Pakistan. T ...

in 2017 and was made President of his party's Punjab unit the same year. He left the party on 14th May 2022 after receiving a show-cause notice for criticizing

Ambika Soni Ambika Soni (born 13 November 1942) is an Indian politician belonging to Indian National Congress. She had served as Minister of Information and Broadcasting. She was a Member of Parliament representing the state of Punjab in the Rajya Sabha. ...

References

External links

* * , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Jakhar, Balram 1923 births 2016 deaths People from Fazilka district Indian National Congress politicians Speakers of the Lok Sabha Governors of Gujarat Governors of Madhya Pradesh Forman Christian College alumni Punjab, India MLAs 1972–1977 Punjab, India MLAs 1977–1980 India MPs 1984–1989 India MPs 1998–1999 Lok Sabha members from Rajasthan People from Sikar Lok Sabha members from Punjab, India Leaders of the Opposition in Punjab, India Agriculture Ministers of India India MPs 1991–1996 People from Firozpur district People from Bikaner district India MPs 1980–1984