चौधरी चरण सिंह…वह प्रधानमंत्री जिससे पुलिस ने घूस ली: फिर पूरा का पूरा थाना सस्पेंड…कभी चुनाव नहीं हारे; नेहरू से मनमुटाव हुआ तो कांग्रेस छोड़ दी

It is about 1979. It was 6 in the evening. A farmer wearing dhoti-kurta arrived at Usrahar police station in Etawah. Wiping the sweat on his forehead, he said to the constable – Sir, I have to write the report of the theft of the ox. The soldier asked to wait. One hour passed while sitting, so the farmer again requested to write the report. The soldier ignored.

After some time, the soldier came to the old man and said – ‘Come on, the inspector is calling you.’ The inspector again asked the farmer some tricky questions and without registering the report scolded him and made him run away from the police station.

When the farmer started leaving the police station, the same soldier again came running. Said- ‘Baba, give me some water and expenses, then the report will be written.’ The farmer was again happy after the report was written, but the matter of expenditure and water was eating him up from inside. However, he agreed to pay some money. The matter once again reached the inspector. It was decided to write a report on the bribe of 35 rupees. Registering the complaint, the scribe laughingly asked, ‘Baba will you sign or thumb.’

Everyone was laughing. Meanwhile, the farmer took out a pen from his dirty kurta and signed the report. Name written- Chaudhary Charan Singh, The paper was stamped in no time. On which it was written- Prime Minister, Government of India. On seeing this, the inspector was stunned, his body started trembling and stood up from the chair. This time sweat was on his forehead. But Prime Minister Charan Singh, who arrived as a farmer, did not forgive anyone. The entire police station was suspended.

The picture is from 1930. Chaudhary Charan Singh attended the Aryasamaj conference. Charan Singh is standing at number 5 from the left side in the last line. Photo: Charan Singh Archive

When he became an MLA, the British put him in jail.
Chaudhary Charan Singh was born on 23 December 1902 in Noorpur village of Meerut. The financial condition of the family was not good. Home used to run from farming. Father Chaudhary Mir Singh wanted Charan to take up the responsibility of the family after getting educated. Charan studied at the Government High School in Meerut. In the year 1923, he graduated from Science. Then, in 1925, did PG from Arts side. Then after completing his law studies, he went to Ghaziabad to practice law.

In those days, seeing Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh in the country, the enthusiasm for freedom had increased among the youth. In the year 1929, Charan Singh also jumped into this fight. 1937 His name was heard for the first time in UP politics. When he contested and won the assembly elections on behalf of the Congress. After 3 years i.e. in 1940, he joined the Satyagraha movement, during which he also had to go to jail.

When the coin flipped in 1952, Charan Singh became the messiah of the farmers.
Charan Singh did not go to jail in the Satyagraha movement. The country got independence after 7 years. Because of Charan Singh’s sacrifice and his courage, people now started calling him ‘Chaudhary Charan Singh’. He started being counted among the senior leaders of the Congress. In the year 1951, he got a big responsibility. He got the status of Cabinet Minister in the Government of Uttar Pradesh. During this, he also took charge of the Justice and Information Department.

The picture is from 1955. Chaudhary Charan Singh with President Rajendra Prasad. Photo: Charan Singh Archive

In 1952, when Dr. Sampurnanand became the CM of UP, Chaudhary Charan Singh got the responsibility of Revenue and Agriculture Department. In the same year, Chaudhary Saheb passed the Zamindari Abolition Bill for the farmers of UP. With this, the Zamindari system, which had been going on since the British era, came to an end. Due to this, the farmers also started getting land for cultivation, on which earlier the rights of the landlords used to run.

This decision increased the stature of Chaudhary Charan Singh politically and personally. The Congress party which passed the bill won the re-election in 1960 and Chaudhary Saheb came to be regarded as the leader of the farmers. In the same year, in the government of Chandrabhanu Gupta, he was given the Department of Home and Agriculture.

Due to estrangement with Nehru left the Congress
Chaudhary Charan Singh remained the big face of Congress in UP for 17 years (1951-1967). However, in 1967, he left the Congress party due to differences with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The political pundits of UP had agreed that perhaps Chaudhary Charan Singh’s Chaudhary would make a difference now. But this did not happen. Breaking away from Congress, he formed a new political party ‘Bharatiya Kranti Dal’ with the help of strong leaders like Raj Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia. In the same year Chaudhary Charan Singh became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Chaudhary Charan Singh, who took over the power of UP from 3 April 1967, resigned from the post of CM after a year i.e. in 1968. However, he won a major victory in the mid-term elections held in 1970 and again became the Chief Minister on 17 February 1970. After this, when he became the Home Minister in the Central Government, he established Mandal and Minorities Commission.

After this, when he became the Home Minister in the Central Government, he established Mandal and Minorities Commission. Established the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development in 1979 as Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. On 28 July 1979, Chaudhary Charan Singh became Prime Minister with the support of Samajwadi parties and Congress (U).

Chaudhary Saheb reached in dhoti-kurta to hoist the flag at the Red Fort
Chaudhary Charan Singh has 2 unique records in his name. First: He was the only leader of UP who never lost any election. Second: He was the first CM of UP, who later became the Prime Minister of the country. Chhaprauli village of Baghpat district, from where he contested the assembly elections. Even today people tell their stories there.

Rampal, a resident of Chhaprauli, says, “There is a very famous story of Chaudhary Sahab. 19 days after becoming the Prime Minister, Chaudhary Sahab had to hoist the flag on the Red Fort. When he went to hoist the flag for the first time, the PA asked him, ‘Sir, are you wearing a dhoti? Will you go to hoist the flag in kurta and cap only? On this, Chaudhary Saheb said – Absolutely. Today the whole country will see that the son of a farmer-labourer will hoist the flag on the Red Fort.

The picture is from 1979. Chaudhary Charan Singh looking at the files of the ministries at the Prime Minister’s residence. Photo: Charan Singh Archive

After the son, now the grandson is handling the legacy
During his tenure, Chaudhary Saheb took many important decisions for the village and the farmers. Removed sales tax on fertilizers. Created the post of Lekhpal. Significantly reduced the salaries and other benefits of the ministers. 50% of the electricity was given to the villages. Powerhouses were made equal in both the city and the village. Drinking water and road construction work was done in the villages at a fast pace. He died on 29 May 1987.

Chaudhary Charan Singh promoted his son Ajit Singh. Ajit Singh entered active politics in 1980 and reached Parliament for the first time in 1986 through the Rajya Sabha. He was also a member of the Lok Sabha for 6 terms and handled several ministries including industry and civil aviation in several governments. After separating from the Janata Dal in 1996, Chaudhary Ajit Singh formed the Rashtriya Lok Dal i.e. RLD. He died on 6 May 2021 due to corona virus infection. Now the command of RLD is being handled by Chaudhary Ajit Singh’s son Jayant Chaudhary. The party currently has 9 MLAs in Uttar Pradesh. Whereas, Jayant is a Rajya Sabha MP.

Jayant Chaudhary was made a Rajya Sabha MP last year.

At last let us know some interesting things related to Chaudhary Charan Singh…

You can also read these news related to the leaders of UP…

1. 21 CMs so far, out of which 8 are graduates and 11 have higher degree

March 18, 2017, day Saturday, evening time, mild winter in Lucknow, but the atmosphere was warm. All the pundits making political predictions were roaming around hiding their faces. All speculation had failed. BJP had given the throne of UP to the Mahant of a Math. Here BJP said Yogi Adityanath, on the other hand people started searching on Google, YouTube and Facebook that how educated Mahant is. This is a strange fact, but true. Out of 21 CMs of UP till date, 8 are graduates and 11 have higher degrees than them. By the way, in terms of government, the government of graduates has been the best. Read the full news…

2. October 4 made Jayant a powerful leader, September 20 gave him the turban; Now Rajya Sabha MP

The Jayant-Akhilesh alliance may not have been successful in the UP assembly elections, but RLD won 8 seats on the basis of Jat and Muslim voters. Its real result is now visible after about two months. Akhilesh does not want to take any risk regarding the 2024 elections. So he decided to cut the leaf of his wife Dimple and send Jayant to the Rajya Sabha. Read the full news…

3. Became MLA at the age of 28, remained CM of UP 3 times; Samajwadi Party formed in 1992

Mulayam Singh Yadav became the Chief Minister of UP thrice. He was also the Defense Minister at the Centre. Elected Lok Sabha MP for 7 times and MLA for 9 times. The special thing about Mulayam Singh has been that he was so adept in political skills that even his staunchest opponents were his admirers. Read the full news…