194. Chandrashekhar (1927-2007)

Chandra Shekhar Singh (17 April 1927 – 8 July 2007) was the eighth Prime Minister of India.

Chandra Shekhar Singh was born in a Hindu Rajput farming family on 1 July 1927 in Ibrahimpatti, a village in the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh. He was awarded a Master of Arts degree at Allahabad University. He was known as a firebrand in student politics. After graduation, he became active in socialist politics.^[1] He was married to Duja Devi.

Political life

He joined the socialist movement and was elected secretary of the district Praja Socialist Party (PSP), Ballia. Within a year, he was elected joint secretary of the PSP’s State unit in Uttar Pradesh. In 1955–56, he took over as general secretary of the party in the State. His career as a parliamentarian began with his election to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh in 1962. He came under the spell of Acharya Narendra Dev, a fiery Socialist leader in the beginning of his political career. From 1962 to 1967, Shekhar belonged to the Rajya Sabha, the Upper house of the Parliament of India. He had a nationwide padayatra in 1983 to know the country better, which he claimed gave the jitters toIndira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister. He was called a "Young Turk"..

Chandra Shekhar was a prominent leader of socialists. He joined Congress in 1964. From 1962 to 1967, he was a member of the Rajya Sabha. He first entered the Lok Sabha in 1967. As a member of the Congress Party, he vehemently criticised Indira Gandhi for her activities. This led to a split in the Congress in 1975. Chandrashekhar was arrested during the emergency and sent to prison.

After the emergency, he became the President of Janata Party. In the parliamentary elections, Janata Party did very well and formed the coalition government headed by late Morarji Desai. In 1988, his party merged with other parties and formed the government under the leadership of V.P. Singh. Again his relationship with the coalition deteriorated and he formed another party, Janata Dal socialist faction. With the support of Congress (I) headed by Rajiv Gandhi, he replaced V.P. Singh as the Prime Minister of India in November 1990.

Prime Minister of India

After his predecessor V.P. Singh resigned, he led a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal, known as the Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya). He became the eighth Prime Minister of India on 10 November 1990 as Congress decided to extend outside support to his government. The relationship crumbled quickly, as the Congress party accused him of spying on Rajiv Gandhi, their leader at that time. The Congress Party then boycotted Parliament and as Shekhar's faction only had 64 MPs, he resigned in a nationally televised address on 6 March 1991. He remained in office until national elections could be held later that year.

Shekhar was known for abiding by the parliamentary conventions and was honoured with the inaugural Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 1995.

Shekhar was a member of the Lok Sabha, India's lower house of Parliament. He led the Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya), (Socialist People's Party (National)). Starting in 1977, he won elections to the Lok Sabha eight times from Ballia constituency in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The only election that he lost was in 1984 against Jagganath Chaudhary of Congress (I).

Death

Chandra Shekhar suffered from multiple myeloma, a form of cancer of the plasma cell. He had been hospitalised for over three months by the date of his death, aged 80, in New Delhi on 8 July 2007. He was survived by two sons. One of them, Neeraj Shekhar contested and won the Ballia Lok Sabha which was vacated through his father's death.

His elder son Pankaj Shekhar is well known public figure and the grandson Shashank Shekhar is a prominent lawyer practicing in London. Pankaj Shekhar recently joined Bhartiya Janta Party in the presence of Party President Rajnath Singh as Pankaj is known as one of the persons who are closed to Narendra Modi.