INDIANCULTURE

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on December 25 1924, in Gwalior. His father name is Shri Krishna Bihari Vajpayee. Atal Bihari Vajpayee has earned a masters degree in political science from the Victoria College now Laxmibai College and DAV College . He began his involvement in politics as a freedom-fighter during the Quit India Movement of 1942-1945.

He was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (Indian People's Union), a party linked to the Hindu organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), of which he was the President between 1968 and 1973. He was first elected to the Parliament of India in 1957 and was the leader of the Jana Sangh political party up to the formation of the Janata Party in 1977. He served as the Minister for External Affairs in the government of Morarji Desai from March 1977 to July 1979. In 1980, he left the Janata Party,and helped form the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was leader of the BJP parliamentary party between 1980 and 1984, 1986 and between 1993 and 1996. He was the leader of the Opposition in the 11th Lok Sabha. Serving in both the lower house, the Lok Sabha , and the upper house, the Rajya Sabha , he has represented his home town of Gwalior, and the city of Lucknow.

On October 13, 1999, he took charge as Prime Minister of India for the second consecutive term at the head of a new coalition government, the National Democratic Alliance. He was Prime Minister for a short period in 1996. He is the only Prime Minister since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to have become Prime Minister of India through three successive mandates.

A veteran Parliamentarian whose career stretches over four decades, Shri Vajpayee has been elected to the Lok Sabha (House of the People) nine times and to the Rajya Sabha (House of the States) twice.

Educated at Victoria (now Laxmi Bai) College, Gwalior and DAV College, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Shri Vajpayee holds an M.A (Political Science) degree and has many literary, artistic and scientific accomplishments. He edited Rashtradharma (a Hindi monthly), Panchjanya (a Hindi weekly) and the dailies Swadesh and Veer Arjun. His published works include "Meri Sansadiya Yatra" (four volumes), "Meri Ikkyavan Kavitayen", "Sankalp Kaal", "Shakti-se-Shanti", "Four Decades in Parliament" (speeches in three volumes), 1957-95, "Lok Sabha mein Atalji" (a collection of speeches); Mrityu Ya Hatya", "Amar Balidan", "Kaidi Kaviraj Ki Kundalian" (a collection of poems written in jail during Emergency); "New Dimensions of India's Foreign Policy" (a collection of speeches delivered as External Affairs Minister during 1977-79); "Jan Sangh Aur Mussalman"; "Sansad Mein Teen Dashak" (Hindi) (speeches in Parliament - 1957-1992 - three volumes; and "Amar Aag Hai" (a collection of poems) 1994.

Shri Vajpayee has served on a number of important Committees of Parliament. He was Chairman, Committee on Government Assurances (1966-67); Chairman, Public Accounts Committee (1967-70); Member, General Purposes Committee (1986); Member, House Committee and Member, Business Advisory Committee, Rajya Sabha (1988-90); Chairman, Committee on Petitions, Rajya Sabha (1990-91); Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, Lok Sabha (1991-93); Chairman, Standing Committee on External Affairs (1993-96).

India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan. He was also conferred the Lokmanya Tilak Puruskar and the Bharat Ratna Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant Award for the Best Parliamentarian, both in 1994. Kanpur University honoured him with an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in 1993.

P V Narasimha Rao

Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao was born on June 28, 1921 at Vangara (village), Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. His father was P. Ranga Rao. He studied in Osmania University, Hyderabad, Bombay University and the Nagpur University. He was able to speak in 17 languages. He was an agriculturist and an advocate. He was an active freedom-fighter during India's indpendence movement, and after independence, he joined politics full time. He was the Minister of Law and Information, 1962-64; Law and Endowments, 1964-67; Health and Medicine, 1967 and Education, 1968-71, Government of Andhra Pradesh. He was the Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh, 1971-73; General Secretary, All India Congress Committee, 1975-76; Chairman, Telugu Academy, Andhra Pradesh, 1968-74; Vice-President, Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, Madras, from 1972. He was also Member, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, 1957-77; Member, Lok Sabha 1977-84. He was Minister for External Affairs from January 14, 1980 to July 18, 1984; Minister of Home Affairs from July 19, 1984 to December 31, 1984 and the Minister of Defence from December 31, 1984 to September 25, 1985. He then assumed charge as Minister of Human Resource Development on September 25, 1985.

successfully published 'SahasraPhan', a Hindi translation of late Shri Viswanatha Satyanarayana's famous Telegu Novel 'Veyi Padagalu' published by Jnanpith; 'Abala Jeevitam', Telugu translation of late Shri Hari Narayan Apte's famous Marathi Novel, "Pan Lakshat Kon gheto", published by Central Sahitya Academy. He translated other famous works from Marathi to Telugu and from Telugu to Hindi, and published many articles in different magazines mostly under a pen name. He lectured at Universities in the U.S.A. and West Germany on political matters and allied subjects. As Minister of External Affairs he travelled extensively to U.K., West Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Egypt in 1974.

After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and the general elections of 1991 , Rao was chosen to lead the Congress party and after Congress won in parliament later that year he became Prime Minister. He was the first person outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to serve as Prime Minister for five continuous years. He was also the first Prime Minister to lead a minority government for a full term .

His government survived a "no-confidence" vote in Parliament in 1994. In 1996 a corruption scandal rocked the government. When general elections were held in May, Rao and Congress were badly defeated, and he lost the prime ministership. He retained leadership of the Congress party until late 1996 . After his retirement from national politics Rao published a novel named The Insider . The controversial book, which follows the career of a person as he rises through the ranks of Indian politics, resembled events from Rao's own life. Rao, however, denied any connection. Rao passed away from heart attack in December 2004 at the age of 83.

He was never an iconic leader. And while his leadership through the economic crisis, terrorism, religious violence and corruption scandals inspired the people to beat the odds, endure the hardship and look at the future optimistically, he was never loved or idolized. And since the fruits of his substantial labors were long to materialize, he was never actually as popular as his more iconic predecessors, who had faced and achieved much less.

Deshbandhu Chittranjan Das

Chittranjan Das was born on November 5, 1870 in Calcutta. Das descended from a family of "vaidyas" or physicians. His father, Bhuben Mohan Das, was a lawyer and journalist. His mother's name was Nistarini Devi. Das developed a logical mind owing to his father and a liberal outlook and a deep sense of hospitality owing to his mother. As a child, Das was deeply imbued with patriotism and recited patriotic poems. After school, Das entered the Presidency college. He excelled at English but did poorly in Mathematics. Das developed a keen interest in Bengali literature and read most works of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore. On his father's advice, Das joined the Bar and the Inner Temple in London. He became a barrister in 1893.

Das started practicing in the Calcutta High court and had the opportunity to defend national workers like Bipin Chandra Pal and Arvinda Ghosh. The case against Arvinda Ghosh came to be known as the Alipore Bomb Conspiracy. Two attempts on the life of the Chief Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta, Mr. Kingsford, were made because he was ruthless while handing out punishments. The first attempt through a mail bomb was a failure. The second attempt was made by Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki. The attempt resulted in the death of 2 innocent English women but Lord Kingsford escaped. Prafulla committed suicide and Khudiram was captured and sentenced to death. A witch hunt ensued and A. Ghosh was labelled the master-mind behind the blasts by the British Government. Nobody was ready to defend Ghosh except Chittranjan Das. The entire trial lasted for 126 days, 200 witnesses were examined, 4000 paper exhibits and 500 material exhibits in the form of bombs and explosives were filed in the case. Das's concluding statements alone lasted for 9 days. Arvinda Ghosh was acquitted. Das accepted no fee for defending Ghosh; in fact he incurred a heavy loss of Rs. 15,000 by the time the case was complete.

Besides being an astute lawyer, Das was a literary man. He has works like Mala and Antaryami (poems expressing religious spirit and devotion), and Kishore Kishori (poem expressing the eternal love between Lord Krishna and Radha). Along with Arvinda Ghosh, he founded the famous journal Bande Mataram. He was also the editor in chief of the journal Forward, a mouthpiece of the Swaraj party.

Das was moved by Gandhiji's call for non-violent resistance to the British Government. The Indian Reforms Act, also known as the Montford Reforms were passed in 1919 in Britain. The reforms were aimed at achieving a responsible government in India. Das moved a resolution declaring the reforms "inadequate, unsatisfactory and disappointing." He appealed to the Government to make a conscientious effort for setting up a more responsible government in India. The Congress accepted Das's resolution with a few amendments. A sub-committee recommended a boycott of educational institutions, law courts and legislative councils. Das believed that most effective way to gain freedom was to fight the British from without and within. He favored the boycott of the schools and courts but opposed the boycott of legislative councils.

Das declared that he would give up his practice to set an example for his people. Das played an important role in the boycott of the arrival of Prince of Wales in Calcutta on November 17, 1920. When the Prince stepped into the city he found it deserted. Das did his best to keep the boycott complete and peaceful. He organized the Congress Volunteers Corps for effectively implementing Congress programs. He enrolled one crore volunteers to raise Rs 1 crore for the Tilak Swaraj Memorial Fund. The volunteers were involved in picketing Government offices, shops selling foreign goods, liquor shops. They were also involved in selling khaddar. This led to an unprecedented mass awakening.

The fallout of the boycott of colleges resulted in many students with no educational institution to go to. Das setup the Bengal National College to fulfill the demands of the students. In December 1921 Das was arrested. Getting into the police car Das told the crowd, "Men and women of India. This is my message to you. Victory is in sight if you are prepared to win it through suffering." Conches were blown and flowers showered on Deshbandhu (literally: friend of the nation) as he was fondly called for the sacrifices he made for the freedom struggle, as the police car started. Deshbandhu was first imprisoned in the Presidency Jail and was moved to the Central Jail where many of his followers were imprisoned. Das was released the following year.

Deshbandhu, along with Motilal Nehru, founded the Swaraj Party in 1923 for maintaining of continued participation in legislative councils. The party was soon recognized as the parliamentary wing of the Congress. In Bengal many of the candidates fielded by the Swaraj Party were elected to office. The Governor invited Deshbandhu to form a government but he declined. The party came to be a powerful opposition in the Bengal Legislative Council and inflicted defeats on three ministries.

The Calcutta Municipal Act of 1923 was a major landmark in the history of local self-government in India. The Swarajists were elected to the Calcutta Corporation in a majority in 1924. Deshbandhu was elected mayor and Subash Chandra Bose was appointed Chief Executive Officer. Greater efficiency was brought to the administration and many welfare projects were implemented. After giving up his legal practice Deshbandhu went from one of the richest men in Calcutta to one of the poorest. His liabilities amounted to one lakh rupees. The only asset he had was his huge building in Calcutta which he wanted to gift to the nation. Deshbandhu set up a fund, which was later made the Deshbandhu Memorial Fund through Gandhiji's intervention to clear his liabilities, build a temple, establish an orphanage and provide education to the masses. establish an orphanage and provide education to the masses. The total amount collected by the fund amounted to eight lakh rupees. Deshbandhu's home was converted to a hospital for women and is called Chittranjan Seva Sadan.

The struggle with the Government became more intense on account of the legalization of the oppressive Bengal Ordinance which authorized arrest of individuals suspected of terrorism without probable cause. Das had returned with a high fever from the Belgaum Congress session of 1925. When he heard that the ordinance was to be legalized on January 7, 1925, Deshbandhu declared from his sickbed, "The Black Bill is coming up for discussion. I must attend at any cost and oppose it." He was taken to the Council on a stretcher attended by two doctors. The bill was defeated. On June 16, 1925, Deshbandhu's condition worsened. He died while resting in Darjeeling. On Deshbandhu's death, Subash Chandra Bose said, "The death of Deshbandhu... was for India a national calamity... ."

Chandra Shekhar

Chandra Shekhar Singh was born on July 1, 1927 in village Ibrahimpatti in District Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. Shri Chandra Sekhar is married to Smt. Duja Devi.

He had his Master�s Degree in Political Science from Allahabad University (1950-51). He joined the Socialist Movement. He was closely associated with Acharya Narendra Dev. He was elected Secretary of the District Praja Socialist Party, Ballia. Within a year, he was elected Joint Secretary of the U.P. State Praja Socialist Party. In 1955-56 he took over as General Secretary of the U.P., State Praja Socialist Party.

In 1962, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh. He joined the Indian National Congress in January 1965. In 1967 he was elected General Secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party. He founded and edited YOUNG INDIAN, a weekly published from Delhi in 1969. During the Emergency (June 1975 to March 1977) YOUNG INDIAN had to be closed down. It resumed regular publication in February 1989. He is the Chairman of its Editorial Advisory Board.

He has always stood against politics of personalities and has favoured politics of ideology and social change. This propelled him more towards Shri Jayaprakash Narayan and his idealist view of life during the turbulant days of 1973-75. When Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975, he was arrested under Maintenance of Internal Security Act inspite of the fact that he was a member of the Central Election Committee and Working Committee, top bodies of the Indian National Congress. Shri Chandra Sekhar was among the few individuals in the then ruling party who was imprisoned during the Emergency.

His diary, written in Hindi while undergoing imprisonment during the Emergency period, was later published under the title 'Meri Jail Diary'. A well-known compilation of his writings is 'Dynamics of Social Change'.

Shri Chandra Shekhar undertook a marathon walk (Padayatra) through the country from Kanyakumari to Rajghat (Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi) in New Delhi covering a distance of nearly 4260 kms from January 6, 1983 to June 25, 1983. He has established about fifteen Bharat Yatra Centres in various parts of the country including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to train social and political workers for mass education and grassroot work in backward pockets of the country.

He has been a Member of Parliament since 1962 except for a brief period from 1984 to 1989. In 1989 he successfully contested both from his home constituency, Ballia, and the adjoining Maharajganj constituency in Bihar. He vacated the latter. He was President of the Janata Party from 1977 to 1988.

He was Prime Minister for only seven months from 10 November 1990 to 21 June 1991. He resigned after the Congress Party withdrew support to him. He remained in office until national elections could be held later that year.

He was honoured with the inaugural Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 1995. Today, he is a member of India's Parliament. He now leads Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) , (Socialist People's Party (National))

V P Singh

Vishwanath Pratap Singh was born on June 25, 1931 at Allahabad, Shri V.P. Singh is the son of Raja Bahadur Ram Gopal Singh. He was educated at Allahabad and Poona Universities. He was married to Smt. Sita Kumari on June 25, 1955.

A scholarly man, he was the proud founder of Gopal Vidyalaya, Intermediate College, Koraon, Allahabad. He was the President of the Students Union at Udai Pratap College, Varanasi in 1947-48 and was the Vice-President, Allahabad University Students Union. He actively participated in Bhoodan movement in 1957 and donated a well-established farm in village Pasna, District Allahabad.

He was the member of All India Congress Committee; Executive Body, Allahabad University, 1969-71 and Legislative Assembly, Uttar Pradesh 1969-71. He was the Whip, Congress Legislative Party, 1970-71; Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), 1971-74; Union Deputy Minister of Commerce, October 1974-November 1976; Union State Minister of Commerce, November 1976-March 1977; Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), January 3-July 26,1980.

He was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, June 9, 1980- June 28, 1982; Member, Legislative Council, Uttar Pradesh, November 21, 1980-June 14,1981; Member Legislative Assembly, Uttar Pradesh, June 15, 1981-July 16, 1983. As a Union Minister of Commerce in January 29,1983, he also held additional charge of the Department of Supply in February 15,1983. He was the Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) in July 16, 1983; on September 1, 1984 he was elected President, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee and on December 31, 1984 he became the Union Finance Minister.

After resigning as Congress cabinet minister under Rajiv Gandhi , he joined in Jan Morcha . He was elected to Lok Sabha from Allahabad .Janatha Dal fought elections in 1989, alongside BJP and the Communist parties. He became Prime Minister after winning election. He held office from December 2 , 1989 - November 10 , 1990.

He was ousted when BJP withdrew support to the National Front government after its leader L.K. Advani was arrested during his rath yatra that supported a construction of a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv Gandhi, born in 1944, served as the Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989. The first son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi, Rajiv attended Cambridge University, where he met and married Sonia. He was not a man of any unusual academic achievements or other distinctions, and appears to have had few ambitions until the death of his brother Sanjay in 1980. The following year, his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, appears to have induced Rajiv, an airline pilot, to enter politics. He stood successfully for election in 1981 and became a political adviser to his mother. After her assassination in 1984, Rajiv succeeded her as head of the Congress party, and was sworn in as Prime Minister of India. Rajiv, rather keen on preparing India for the twenty-first century, collected his buddies and cronies around him, and sought to increase Indian investments in modern technology. His "vision" of India, insofar as he had one, was that of a technocrat, and his policies did little to eradicate or diminish poverty and the vast inequities of power and wealth which are to be found in Indian society. Like his mother, he could not contain the political problems afflicting India, and found refuge in international entanglements and commitments. He committed the so-called Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka in an endeavor to help the government there to eradicate militants agitating for a separate Tamil homeland. His period in office was marred by scandals and allegations of corruption on so huge a scale that he undoubtedly lost the election of 1989 partly on account of the public perception that he had received "kick-backs" from a Swedish company manufacturing Bofors machine-guns. The Congress suffered an electoral defeat. His successor, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, could not hold office for very long, and Rajiv started campaigning in earnest in 1991. It was while he was on this campaign in South India that a bomb explosion took his life; even his body could not be pieced together. As he had named thousands of buildings and institutions after his mother and brother, so his wife, Sonia Gandhi, has named everything after her dead husband.

Unlike his grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, or even his mother, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv appears to have been singularly lacking in intellectual attainments, and his interventions in Parliamentary debates were notoriously prosaic and dull. His years in office cannot be described as having contributed in any healthy way to the political life of the nation, and the precipitous decline of the Congress party can also be attributed to his inept handling of party affairs, and the encouragement he gave to those willing to do his bidding.

Charan Singh

Choudhary Charan Singh was born in 1902 at Noorpur in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh. He graduated in science in 1923, and did his post-graduation from Agra University in 1925. Also trained in law, he set up practice at Ghaziabad. He shifted to Meerut in 1929 and later joined the Congress.

He was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1937 from Chhatrauli, and represented the constituency in 1946, 1952, 1962 and 1967. He became Parliamentary Secretary in Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant�s Government in 1946 and worked in departments of Revenue, Medical and Public Health, Justice, Information etc. In June 1951, he was appointed Cabinet Minister in the State and given charge of the Departments of Justice and Information and later the Minister for Revenue and Agriculture in the Cabinet of Dr. Sampurnanand in 1952. He resigned in April 1959.

He was Minister for Home and Agriculture (1960), Minister for Agriculture and Forests (1962-63). He gave up the Department of Agriculture in 1965 and took charge of the Local Self-government department in 1966. After the Congress split, he became the Chief Minister of U.P. for the second time in February 1970 with the support of the Congress Party. However, President�s Rule was imposed in the State on October 2, 1970.

He was the chief architect of land reforms in U.P.; he took a leading part in formulation and finalisation of the Dept. Redemption Bill 1939. As Chief Minister he was instrumental in bringing about the Land Holding Act 1960 which was aimed at lowering the ceiling on land holdings to make it uniform throughout the State.

Charan Singh became the fifth Prime Minister of India , serving from 28 July 1979 until 14 January 1980. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister of India before becoming Prime Minister. During his term as Prime Minister the Lok Sabha never met. The day before the Lok Sabha was due to meet for the first time the Indian National Congress withdrew their support from his Bharitiya Lok Dal Government. Charan Singh resigned and fresh elections were held six months later. He was called a friend of farmers and his memorial was named Kisan Ghat .