The darkest phase of Indian democracy

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Very well put Sehrawatji.

Another thing, Chaudhary Charan Singh had become gravely ill with urinary tract infection, when it was time to choose a PM . He was admitted at Willingdon hospital in New Delhi when all the politicking was taking place, and Morarji took advantage of that situation. Jagjivan Ram would never have been acceptable as a PM, and rather than wait, it was decided to move ahead in the interest of the nation and go with Morarji as PM.
 
Ye dil mange more

Yes Dear Dhruv,

We should thank all the senior members here for providing such information about emergency and other leaders. We never read or heard about these leaders. We have a limited information about these leaders of emergency days. This is indeed an information which is very difficult to be sourced from books.

I, again thanks you all. But 'ye dil mange more' so please continue this thread and share more information.
 
Some other Facts

Dear Sehrawat Ji,

What you have said is true. My intention on this thread is not only bring the truth for our younger generation but also analyze the events and the way leaders behaved in those situations.

I visited US for the first time in 1987. We stayed with one of the Jat family. I don't remember the name, but the person was a high ranking civil officer in India and very close to Ch. Charan Singh. I distinctly remember him saying that Ch. Charan Singh never helped his own people to prove a point to others that he was fair and just, but when it came to his personal family members the standard was different. I don't know how much is the truth in it, but the person was very close to Ch. Charan Singh and his family.

That apart, I fully agree with you that while Ch. Charan Singh did a very good job, as CM of UP, he probably did not do as well at the center. Yes, I admire him as a person but as a politician as you have rightly said, it left much to be desired. Another thing I heard about Ch. Sahib was that "He believed his close circle too much, and many times acted on their advise without ascertaining the truth. Some people also said that I quote " Woh kano ke kachhe the". I really don't know how much is the truth in it. I have met one of the older leader of the Congress in 1972, his name was Pandit Nitya Nand Pandey from the Kanpur area. Mr. Pandey was close associate of Mr. C.B. Gupta who was the CM of UP before Ch. Charan Singh. Actually, Ch. Charan Singh was the agriculture minister in his cabinet. Mr. Pandey has very high regards for Ch. Sahib, and when he came to know about me being from the same Gotra, he really looked after me and my friends at Kanpur.

People tried to brand him a leader only for Jat Community, for which I think Jats are responsible. I remember people in the village telling every other community member that now we have the CM from our caste and we will sort you out now. This attitude of Jats really harmed Ch. Sahib's political career. While opposition tried to brand him as communal, he changed the name of "Jat College Barot" to Janta College, and Kurmi-Khatriya College, Etawah to Karm-Khetra College. He also abolished the student unions in the colleges, saying that let the students concentrate on their studies and they can practice politics after they finish their studies. I personally feel, it was good for the education system, as I did not find student unions doing any thing credible except breeding the criminals. Ch. Charan Singh did lot of good work but he failed to Capitalize on his popularity to convert it into Political power, for which to a large extent in my opinion our own community is also responsible.

Having seen the negative aspects of the arrogance shown by our community people to other communities when Ch. Charan Singh came to power in UP, I personally, feel we need to change our attitude and if we really want any Jat leader to come up at national level, we need to develop an attitude where we respect all communities and take them along to the road to success.
 
Thank very much to all of you for providing such a nice information about the emergency era..

raj2rif said:
I personally, feel we need to change our attitude and if we really want any Jat leader to come up at national level, we need to develop an attitude where we respect all communities and take them along to the road to success.
Click to expand...

I fully agree with you uncleji.
 
Col. Sahab,

With all his shortcomings, the fact remains that, Ch. Charan Singh was the leader who had the support of jats enbloc all over northern India. He was educated, sophisticated, honest and had programmes and schemes and could have done something for the upliftment jats but for his shortcomings like stubornness and poor media relations coupled with what you said "kaan ka kachcha". After his death, though Ch. Devi Lal tried to fill the gap but his stature could not match that of Ch. Charan Singh, perhaps due to lack of education. Moreover, he was even more "jiddi" and eccentric than Ch. Charan Singh and lacked the same acceptability among non-Haryanvi jats. Ch. Bansi Lal too looked promising but his shifting to centre during emergency and his role during that period dainted his credibility. However, his administrative competence and zeal to do something good for the state will always be remembered. In spite of all the ills attributed to him he was a trend-setter. In present politics, only two leaders are capable of being crowned the jat leaders but will have to tread a long path.

My first choice will be Ch. Bhupinder Singh Hooda provided he can come out of the shadow of Madam Sonia and show that he is there not because of Sonia but due to his own competence. He would also have to handle the menace of Bhajan Lal and his real mettle will be tested against him and his sons. Though it is too premature yet his very short tenure has been impressive. He has shown that he can take decisions and fulfill the promises. I hope with time he will not confine himself to Haryana and reach to all jats in India and improve his PR a bit as PR is the most essential ingredient in today's politics.

Second leader is Randeep, he is young, sauve and has everything in him but to me with emergence of Hooda he has become what R.S. Goyal was to B.S. Bedi in Indian cricket. He will be able to come up only when one of them changes turf i.e. one remain in state and other goes to centre. Still, for me Randeep is a "lambi race ka ghoda". This boy has some aura and this aura will certainly take him somewhere.

Sahab Singh Verma and Sajjan Kumar looked good too but the former is in a party which has not a very strong base among jats and the latter is tainted because of 1984 riots.
 
Col Sir

While there may be some truth in what you have said about the shortcomings of Chaudhary Charan Singh but the popular perception is contrary to that.....
Infact people believe that he chose to sell his property to send Ajit abroad to fund for his education than resort to any embezzlement in the funds....

Ajit studied at IIT Kharagpur where admission is secured only through merit and there is almost no government interference.....how many leaders today encourage their children to slog it out and prepare for iits but they prefer to send them abroad and in most cases on the government funds.....

He always stood by his principles and that is reflected by this story that i have been told by village elders.....he lost election once when he contested from muzaffarnagar seat.....Justice Inder Varma was the incharge of counting .....he could see the defeat coming and advised the grand Chaudhary to ask his supporters to create some law and order problem (which they would have done happily) so that it could give them some grounds for manipulation but he told the man, " main apne kurte pe khoon ke cheente nahi aan doonag ar janta ne jo nirnay de diya vo mujhe sweekar hai" .....how many leaders would have shown such courage and integrity in the hour of defeat is debatable.....i dont know how far the story is true but it seems believable because Chaudhary Saab's integrity was unquestionable..... ( may be rajendra uncle can verify this story)

It is unlikely that a man who was so uncompromising with his principles would have bowed down to benefit his family and tarnish his image that was cultivated over a lifetime.....The allegations alluded to him of favouring his kith and kin may be ramblings of a person who could not get his way with the man (it may not be true but atleast it is possible).....It is again popular perception that he was gainst Ajit entering politics......You have also said something about his being too dependent on a close circle.....Had that been the case it would have been too difficult for him to enjoy popular support.....Infact he toured the rural areas frequently and chatted with the chaudharies often.....that earthiness likened him to the masses.....his spotless public life earned their respect and faith........

Please try to imagine a man who does not bend to do favours for others but compromise his principles for his family.....a person who depends more on a coterie rather than his real supporters on ground.....whose honesty bordered on arrogance.....how would such a man go on to become the leader of the peasantry and yet derive praise even from his staunchest critics about his unflinching honesty......

He contributed a lot for the upliftment of the community and that has been dicussed in various threads at this site itself.....What he did for the community was not quick fix solutions or cutting deals in favour of some powerful individuals of the community but decisions that would benefit the lot of kisan as a whole.......

It is good to discuss the various aspects of his personality but believing somebody whose credentials were being close to his family without any evidence to support their claims is in itself being kano ka kachcha.....or is it giving into the temptation of imagining a larger than life figure with the human frailties that all of us have and diluting watever greatness they achieved.....

But ofcourse I never saw the grand Chaudhary myself and I know watever of the man through elders like you and would be happy to know more about him.....But I expected a more intellectual criticism of him from a member like you whose posts at jatland have enriched our knowldge on various issues rather than discussing some passing comments which may or may not be true....

Regards
 
informations provided by senior people is very important for youth generation. thanx for great contribution....
i think that phase is very contraversial....
 
You May be Right

Dear Varun,

You may be right in your assessment of Ch. Charan Singh's personality. First of all I have neither endorsed or contradicted the statements made by the people about Ch. Charan Singh. What I have mentioned in my post is the information available with me about Ch. Sahab which I have shared with the community people. It is upto each individual to draw his/her own conclusions. I have my own ways of judging people. I neither worship nor condemn an individual because of one single act.

I was present in 1971 in Muzaffurnagar when Ch. Charan Singh lost election to Mr. Vijay Pal Singh (a relatively politically unknown person) of CPI. Ch. Charan Singh was ditched by many of his close associates. When Ch. Sahab formed BKD (Bhartiya Kranti Dal) his party contested election in 100 constituencies in UP assembly elections in 1969. Out of 100 they won 99 seats. The only candidate that lost was in Aligarh City seat. In 1971 elections Ch Sahab wanted to capitalize on his popularity, so he thought that he would win election from any where and thus left the Baghpat seat for Sh. Raghubir Sharan Shastri. He also never visited Muzaffurnagar Constituency till as late as few days before the elections as he was busy campaigning for his party candidates. Out of the 100 candidates this time, they had their lone victory in Aligarh this time. Even his candidate from Baghpat lost the election in 1971. Whether some one told him to create law and order problem to win the election is not known to me.

People also talked about his son-in-law harming some patient due to his neglect. Since nothing happened to him people talked aobut his inlfuence. How far these things are true I am not commenting on it. The purpose of my posts is to share information about him. I had always admired him as a person. I had also supported his political party always, but I surely don't agree with his political wisdom. Because I believe that even if he did not want Jagjivan Ram or Chavan to become the PM, he should not have taken the support of Congress (I) to become the PM. People might give thousands reasons for his decisions, but I don't agree with that. He was ditched by people from socialist party during his first term as CM in UP (specially Mr. Raj Narayan) yet Mr. Raj Narayan became one of his close political friend. I essentially don't care about political manipulations, but to accept Mrs. Gandhi's support to become the PM, is some thing I can't understand. People some time become caretaker leaders to influence the elections. Since he was above all such things, the only other thing could be either his desire to become PM or to prevent any one else to occupty that post till next elections. To me both were politically wrong decisions for a leader of his stature.

I liked Ch. Sahab being the first and probably only Congress leader who could speak against Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, for which he paid heavy political price, but when in 1979 he accepted Congress Support, I did not like it. I am not sure, if Ch. Charan Singh told Ch. Ajit Singh not to join politics, but the fact is, that Ch. Ajit Singh was very much in politics while Ch. Charan Singh was still alive. Even Mrs. Gyatri Devi was in politics. It would be difficult to explain whether or not Ch Sahab promoted/supported the family members getting into politics and representing various constituencies.

I have also mentioned earlier on one of my posts the good work done by Ch. Charan Singh as CM of UP to get the farmers their best price for sugar cane. It was probably for this reason, farmers resorted to lot of sugar cane production in 1978 when Ch Sahab came to the power at Center that resulted in the worst ever sugar cane prices. I remember farmers standing for more than 24 hours in que to sell their sugar cane. Some of them left loads of sugar cane on road side in frustration during that period. What could have been done at political level to help these farmers is a big question. But I heard that Ch. Sahab when aproaced by farmer community, commented that "Mere Sir par bhi Ganna Bo dena tha". Though his answer was true and honest, but I really don't know whether that was the best answer by the leader whom farmers had always supported.
 
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