Charan Singh

Charan Singh

Chaudhary Charan Singh (Caudharī Caraṇ Siṅh; 23 December 1902 – 29 May 1987) was the fifth Prime Minister of the Republic of India, serving from 28 July 1979 until 14 January 1980.

Born into a Jat family in 1902, Charan Singh entered politics as part of the Independence Movement. After independence he became particularly notable in the 1950s for opposing and winning a battle against Nehru's socialistic and collectivist land use policies, for the sake of the Indian Farmer, which endeared him to the agrarian communities throughout the nation, particularly in his native Uttar Pradesh.

The leader of the Bharatiya Lok Dal, a major constituent of the Janata coalition, he was disappointed in his ambition to become Prime Minister in 1977 by Jayaprakash Narayan's choice of Morarji Desai. He settled at the time for the largely honorary post of Deputy Prime Minister of India.During 1977 Lok Sabha Elections, there was not a single party, hence it was problem, which symbol has to be adopted (many parties joined the front to contest the elections after emergency was over). Hence, a request was made to Chaudhary Charan Singh (Lok Dal) and he agreed to release his party-Lok Dal's symbol "HALDHAR'. This symbol was locked in that elections, but a promise was made to Chaudhary Charan Singh that he would be Prime Minister if the front won that election, but this promise was never kept by other party leaders, hence,Chaudhary Charan Singh had a knot in his heart, resulting in a revolt; when the time came he became Prime Minister. However, the internal stresses of the coalition's government caused him to leave the government with the former Lok Dal, after being promised by Indira Gandhi the support of the Congress Party on the floor of the House in any efforts to form a government. He was sworn in as Prime Minister with the support of just 64 MPs.

Charan Singh holds the record of the sole Prime Minister of India who did not face the Loksabha even for a single day during his short tenure of just a month. The day before the Lok Sabha was due to meet for the first time the Indian National Congress withdrew their support from his Bharatiya Lok Dal Government. Choudhary Charan Singh resigned and fresh elections were held six months later.

He continued to lead the Lok Dal in opposition till his death in 1987, when he was succeeded as party president by his son Ajit Singh. His association with the causes dear to farming communities in the North caused his memorial in New Delhi to be named Kisan Ghat. (In Hindi, Kisan is the word for farmer.)

The Amausi Airport in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh is also called as Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport after him. The university of Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh, India, is also named after him (Chaudhary Charan Singh University).