Jan Lal Bishnoi (English: Bhajan Lal Bishnoi, born- October 6, 1930; death- June 3, 2011) was a skilled politician of Haryana and became the Chief Minister of the state three times. He first became the Chief Minister of Haryana in 1979, then in 1982 and then in 1991. He had also once been the Union Agriculture Minister.
Bhajan Lal was born on October 6, 1930 in a Bishnoi Jat farmer family of Kotwali, Punjab. Later he came and settled in Hisar. It is said about his childhood that he used to go on foot from the village to the market of Adampur. Used to sell ghee. A shopkeeper in the market sensed the skill of Bhajan Lal and hired him to share in his shop. Later, on the basis of this skill, Bhajan Lal gathered MLAs and formed his government.[1]
Later, in order to join the Janata Party in 1977, Bhajan Lal sent three barrels of 18 kg ghee to Morarji Desai’s house. In the culture of Haryana, bringing ghee to someone from your place is considered a sign of a good and close relationship. It can be said that once you eat someone’s ghee, you are indebted to that person. To join Congress, Bhajan Lal adopted the same trick as he did to join Janata Dal. But this time instead of ghee, a gold plated camel in Haryanvi style was sent for Sanjay Gandhi’s newborn baby (Varun Gandhi).
After the elections of 1977, the Janata Party government was formed at the centre. But this government fell due to mutual differences. When Indira Gandhi’s government returned to the Center in 1980, Bhajan Lal surprised the country once again. Bhajan Lal, who became Chief Minister from Janata Party, joined Congress along with about 40 of his MLAs.[1]
One such incident is when after joining Congress, Bhajan Lal requested Rajiv Gandhi to arrange a meeting with former Congress Chief Minister of Haryana Bansi Lal. By the time the meeting between Bansilal and Bhajan Lal ended, many of Bansilal’s complaints had been resolved. Because after this meeting Bansilal’s son was made a minister. According to a report in India Today, an officer had said about Bhajan Lal that Bhajan Lal can defeat even God and God would not even know.
Due to the politics of Chaudhary Devi Lal and Bhajan Lal, the feeling of Jat and non-Jat increased in Haryana. This politics suited both the leaders very well. From 1979 to 1999, if Bhajan Lal had stepped down from power, Devi Lal would have come and if Devi Lal had stepped down, Bhajan Lal would have come. Later, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, while commenting on both the leaders in a rally, called it ‘political match fixing’.
Bhajan Lal was the Chief Minister of Haryana again from 1991-1996. After this there was a change of power. First Bansilal and then Chaudhary Devi Lal’s son Om Prakash Chautala came back to power. Later, Bhupinder Singh Hooda of Congress became the Chief Minister in 2005. It was at that time that Bhajan Lal realized that he could not rebel against the Congress leadership. The Gandhi family had promised good positions to Bhajan Lal, his sons Kuldeep Bishnoi and Chand Ram. But later the political equations changed. Bhajan Lal left Congress in 2007 and formed his own party ‘Haryana Janhit Congress’.[1]
Bhajan Lal can be called the ‘Professor of Indian electoral politics’. Even at the age of 78, before the 2009 elections he had said that “I am still young to win the elections”. In the same year, he became MP by defeating two big leaders of Haryana, Sampat Singh and Jai Prakash, in the Lok Sabha elections.
Bhajan Lal Bishnoi died in 2011 at the age of 80. On his death, major newspapers of the country had published that now the leader who mobilized the non-Jats is no more and the benefit of this will go to the Jat leaders. But if we look at the history, it is also known that during his tenure, Bhajan Lal did not allow any other non-Jat leader to move forward. Bhajan Lal’s specialty was that he used to identify the MLAs who could be bought from the other camp and due to this art of politics, his opponents both hated him and praised him in their hearts.[1]
