1. Chaudhary Charan Singh was an Indian politician, peasant leader, author and an independence activist who briefly served as the prime minister of India from July 1979 to January 1980.
76 Facts About Charan Singh
1. 2.
Charan Singh served as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh as a member of Bhartiya Kranti Dal.
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Charan Singh briefly served as the deputy prime minister of India from January 1979 to July 1979 as a member of the Janata Party.
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Charan Singh is widely regarded as the "Champion of Farmers", dedicated to advocating for the well being and rights of farmers.
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Charan Singh was born in Meerut district, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.
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Charan Singh graduated from Agra College in 1923 with a Bachelor of Science degree, and then pursued Master of Arts in history in 1925.
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Charan Singh entered politics as a part of Indian independence movement motivated by Mahatma Gandhi.
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Charan Singh followed Gandhi in non-violent struggle for independence from the British Government, and was imprisoned several times.
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Charan Singh was jailed again for one year in November 1940 for individual Satyagraha movement.
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Charan Singh was a Congress member for most of his life, he later founded his own Lok Dal party.
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Charan Singh is the first leader outside the Indian National Congress who formed government in northern India and became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
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Charan Singh was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2024.
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Charan Singh was born on 23 December 1902 to Mir Charan Singh and Netar Kaur in Nurpur village of Meerut district, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.
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Charan Singh's father was a farmer belonging to the Tewatia clan of Jats.
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Charan Singh started his primary education in Jani Khurd village in Meerut.
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Charan Singh did his Matriculation and Intermediate from the Government High School in 1921 and then he went to Agra College to pursue Bachelor of Science in 1923, Masters of Arts in History in 1925.
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Charan Singh then did Bachelor of Laws from Meerut College in 1927.
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Charan Singh have knowledge about European and Indian history as well as civil laws of British India as it affected the lives of village peoples.
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Charan Singh entered politics as part of the Indian Independence Movement motivated by Mahatma Gandhi.
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Charan Singh was active from 1931 in the Ghaziabad District Arya Samaj as well as the Meerut district Indian National Congress for which he was jailed twice by the British.
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Charan Singh became visible on the national stage from 1959 when he publicly opposed the unquestioned leader and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's socialistic and collectivist land policies in the Nagpur Congress Session.
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Charan Singh said he resigned because he was not ready to be blackmailed into withdrawing Indira Gandhi's emergency-related court cases.
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Charan Singh continued to lead the Lok Dal in opposition until his death in 1987.
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Charan Singh's ancestor was a prominent leader of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Raja Nahar Singh of Ballabhgarh.
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Nahar Charan Singh was sent to the gallows in Chandni Chowk, Delhi.
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Charan Singh received a Master of Arts degree in 1925 and a law degree in 1926 from Agra University.
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Charan Singh started practice as a civil lawyer at Ghaziabad in 1928.
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Charan Singh followed Mahatma Gandhi in non-violent struggle for independence from the British Government, and was imprisoned several times.
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Charan Singh was jailed again for one year in November 1940 for individual Satyagraha movement.
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Charan Singh opposed Jawaharlal Nehru on his Soviet-style economic reforms.
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Charan Singh was of the opinion that cooperative farms would not succeed in India.
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Charan Singh wanted to preserve and stabilise a system of peasant proprietorship.
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Charan Singh is known for piloting pro-farmer legislation such as the Consolidation of Holdings Act of 1953 and the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari and Land Reforms Act, 1952.
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Charan Singh was strict in dealing with the 'Patwari strike crisis' in 1953.
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Charan Singh left the Congress party in 1967, and formed his own political party, Bharatiya Kranti Dal.
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Charan Singh had declared the state of emergency and jailed all her political opponents.
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Charan Singh served as Deputy Prime Minister, Home Minister and Finance minister in the Janata government headed by Morarji Desai.
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Charan Singh wanted some of his allies like Jai Ram Varma and Udit Narain Sharma to be included in the cabinet and removal of some of the men from the cabinet.
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Samyukta Socialist Party, one of the constituent of this coalition, demanded to completely abolish the land revenue or at least abolish on uneconomic lands but Charan Singh refused to accept this demand as he was worried about the revenue generation and resources.
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Praja Socialist Party, another constituent in this coalition, demanded for the release of government employees held in preventive detention for their strikes but this demand Charan Singh refused to accept.
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On 17 February 1968, Charan Singh submitted his resignation to the governor Bezawada Gopala Reddy and on 25 February 1968, President's rule was imposed on Uttar Pradesh.
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On 18 February 1970, Charan Singh became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the second time with the help of Indira Gandhi's Congress.
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Charan Singh demanded the resignation of 14 Congress minister but they refused to resign.
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Just two weeks later with the recalling of the Uttar Pradesh assembly, Tribhuvan Narain Charan Singh was elected the leader of the house and became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh with the support of Congress, Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Swatantra Party and Samyukta Socialist Party.
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Charan Singh became Cabinet minister in Morarji Desai government and took the office as Minister of Home Affairs on 24 March 1977.
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Charan Singh argued that these assemblies no longer represent the will of the electorate of their respective states.
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Charan Singh wrote the letter to nine Chief Ministers to advise their governors to dissolve their state assemblies.
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On 3 October 1977, Charan Singh got Indira Gandhi arrested from her 12 Willingdon Crescent residence.
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On 1 July 1978, Charan Singh resigned from the cabinet of Morarji Desai because of growing differences between them over trial of Indira Gandhi.
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In December 1978, Charan Singh wanted to undo Janata Party and wanted coalition government in place of Janata Party government.
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On 24 January 1979, Charan Singh returned into cabinet and held two portfolios of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
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However, due to disagreements with Desai, Charan Singh was asked to resign on 1 July 1978.
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Charan Singh was later reinstated as deputy prime minister on 24 January 1979.
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Charan Singh, who had previously ordered the arrests of Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi as union home minister, capitalised on the growing discord by seeking the support of Indira Gandhi's Congress party.
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Charan Singh was sworn in as prime minister on 28 July 1979, with Yeshwantrao Chavan of the Congress party serving as deputy prime minister.
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Charan Singh refused to comply, prompting Congress to withdraw its support just before he was scheduled to prove his majority in the Lok Sabha.
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Charan Singh remained in office as caretaker prime minister from 21 August 1979 to 14 January 1980, when fresh elections were held.
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Charan Singh was elected president of Lok Dal and Raj Narain was elected as its working president.
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On 21 October 1984, Charan Singh founded a new party Dalit Mazdoor Kisan Party, by merging Lok Dal, Democratic Socialist Party of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, Rashtriya Congress of Ratubhai Adani and some leaders of Janata Party like Devi Lal.
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Charan Singh's simple lifestyle and integrity, often highlighted by wearing hand-woven Khadi clothes and was a teetotler, further enhanced his image as an ethical leader committed to rural development.
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Charan Singh was noted for his opposition to casteism, advocating for social equality and criticising caste-based discrimination, which resonated with his broader vision of uplifting rural and marginalised groups.
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In 2018, BBC wrote that, Chaudhary Charan Singh was more than merely a political figure, a champion of farmers, a leader of a political party, or a past Prime Minister; he embodied an entire philosophy and way of thinking.
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In Chaudhuri Charan Singh: An Indian Political Life, Paul Brass, an American political scientist wrote that Singh was a visionary leader committed to rural development and farmer welfare.
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Charan Singh is depicted as a principled nationalist, advocating for agriculture over industrialization, though ambitious and entangled in Congress factional politics, notably clashing with Nehru.
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In 1925, Charan Singh married Gayatri Devi, who later became political leader, serving as an Member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Iglas and Gokul in Uttar Pradesh, and as a Lok Sabha MP from Kairana.
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Charan Singh served as a Union Minister and represented Baghpat in the Lok Sabha for seven terms.
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Charan Singh contested Baghpat in 2014, losing to Satyapal Singh of the BJP.
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Charan Singh is married to Charu Singh, with whom he has two daughters.
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Charan Singh was then given oxygen support but efforts to revive him failed and was declared dead at 2:35 am on 29 May 1987, due to "cardiac arrest" at the age of 85.
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On 31 May 1987, Charan Singh was given a state funeral in Delhi.
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Charan Singh was cremated at the Kisan Ghat in Raj Ghat, New Delhi.
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Charan Singh, often hailed as the 'Champion of Farmers,' left behind a rich legacy that continues to inspire and shape the agricultural landscape of India.
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Charan Singh was the chief architect of land reforms in Uttar Pradesh, where he played a pivotal role in the formulation and finalisation of the Debt Redemption Bill 1939.
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On 23 December 2023, a 51-foot statue of Charan Singh was unveiled by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Bilari, Moradabad district coinciding Charan Singh's birth anniversary.
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On 30 March 2024, Charan Singh was posthumously honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award by President Droupadi Murmu, for his exceptional service and contributions to the agricultural sector, particularly in Uttar Pradesh.
76.
Charan Singh is a 1996 short documentary film directed by Ashok Vazirani and produced by the Films Division of India which covers the life and achievements of the prime minister including his contributions to the Indian agriculture sector.