History News Desk !! Chandreshwar Prasad Thakur (English: Chandreshwar Prasad Thakur, born – 3 September 1931) is a renowned physician, a successful politician, former Union Minister and former Rajya Sabha MP. After obtaining an MD degree under his education, C.P. Thakur did MRCP, FRCP and made significant contributions in the treatment of deadly diseases like Kala Azar. He received recognition worldwide for his remarkable work. The World Health Organization honored him with the ‘Life-Time Achievement’ award. C.P. Thakur was honored with ‘Padma Bhushan’ by the Government of India in the year 2024.
C.P. Thakur was born on 3 September 1931 in a village called Duba in district Muzaffarpur, Bihar. After obtaining MBBS and then MD degrees from Patna Medical College, he did MRCP, FRCP and started treating deadly diseases like Kala Azar. He received recognition worldwide for his remarkable work. Dr. C.P. Thakur is known in the country and abroad for doing important research on Kala Azar, a disease that was incurable till several decades ago. It is well known that due to his important work in the medical field, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi brought him into politics and he became an MP from Patna parliamentary constituency. Later, C.P. Thakur joined BJP and also became the Health Minister in the NDA government.
After completing his intermediate studies, C.P. Thakur took admission in an engineering college instead of a medical college. After some time, he realized that engineering was not suitable for him. Then he took admission in Patna Medical College. Here he worked very hard and did not miss a single day in college. Whatever the teachers taught in the class, he absorbed every word of it. During his medical studies, he not only got a scholarship but also secured the top position in MBBS. On the basis of his talent, he also won many gold medals during his studies and was selected as the best student of his batch 1957.[1]
Rajiv Gandhi brought Dr. C.P. Thakur into politics and asked him to contest elections. In 1984, the Congress was riding a wave of sympathy. At that time some vote contractors approached him asking for money, but he refused. He hired six cars and started campaigning. R.K. Singh was the returning officer of the election then. When the counting of votes began, despite being ahead by 5000 votes in the Diara region, Ram Avtar Shastri garlanded him with the victory garland and said- “If you are behind by so few votes in my stronghold, then you will take the lead in other areas”. A day before Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, he was with Dr. C.P. Thakur in Patna.[2]
