It seems surprising that Chaudhary Charan Singh, the fifth Prime Minister of India, is remembered as the leader of farmers without any objection. His dedication towards the farmers was so much that his birthday (Chaudhary Charan Singh Birthday) is celebrated as Kisan Diwas (Farmer’s Day) and whenever the interests of farmers are talked about, even today the name of Chaudhary Charan Singh is disliked. Is done. Helping people was a very common and regular habit of his and he was often seen providing legal aid to the victims.
Chaudhary Charan Singh was born on 23 December 1902 in a Jat family in Noorpur village of Hapur, Meerut. Although he started his career as a lawyer, he entered politics by participating in Gandhiji’s freedom movement. But even before that he had become active in Arya Samaj from Ghaziabad. He also came twice during the freedom movement.
In the 1977 general elections, the scattered opposition united against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and succeeded in winning the elections under the banner of the Janata Party. After this, the MPs left the responsibility of choosing the Prime Minister to Jayaprakash Narayan and Acharya Kripalani, after which Morarji Desai became the fourth Prime Minister of the country while Desai suggested the name of Charan Singh for the Home Minister. But Charan Singh’s Janata government could not last long.
Chaudhary Charan Singh soon resigned from the Janata government, but after the agreement, he became the Deputy Prime Minister of the country in June 1978. But this agreement soon broke down and then in July 1979, he formed a new government with the support of Indira Gandhi and became the fifth Prime Minister of the country. Within a month, before Charan Singh could prove his majority in Parliament, Indira Gandhi withdrew support from the Charan Singh government and Charan Singh had to resign from his post. After this the Lok Sabha was dissolved. General elections were held again in 1980 in which Indira Gandhi had a big victory and Charan Singh remained the leader of Lok Dal.
Even after all the incidents, Chaudhary Charan continued to be called the leader of farmers. Whenever his political career is mentioned, it is after the Emergency, but he had become the voice of the farmers long ago. Even before the independence of the country, he kept raising his voice for the landlords, farmers and laborers. He used to become very emotional after hearing the problems of the farmers and used the law for the welfare of the farmers.
In 1951, he became the Minister of Justice and Information in the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet. Then by 1967 he was a prominent leader of the state Congress and pushed for land reform laws. He also opposed Pandit Nehru for the farmers. In 1967, he separated himself from the Congress and became the first non-Congress Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
As leader of the Bharatiya Lok Dal, he joined the Janata Alliance in which his party was the largest component. But from 1974 onwards he became isolated in the coalition and was deeply disappointed when Jayaprakash Narayan chose Morarji Desai as Prime Minister. Despite being a top leader in central politics, he could not cooperate with others. Even after leaving the post of Prime Minister, he continued to represent the Lok Dal in the Lok Sabha till 1987 and remained the voice of farmers’ rights.
