Chaudhary Charan Singh चौधरी चरण सिंह |
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Charan Singh in 1978
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5th Prime Minister of India | |
In office 28 July 1979 – 14 January 1980 |
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President | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |
Deputy | Yashwantrao Chavan |
Preceded by | Morarji Desai |
Succeeded by | Indira Gandhi |
Minister of Finance | |
In office 24 January 1979 – 28 July 1979 |
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Prime Minister | Morarji Desai |
Preceded by | Haribhai Patel |
Succeeded by | Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna |
3rd Deputy Prime Minister of India | |
In office 24 March 1977 – 28 July 1979 Serving with Jagjivan Ram |
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Prime Minister | Morarji Desai |
Preceded by | Morarji Desai |
Succeeded by | Yashwantrao Chavan |
Minister of Home Affairs | |
In office 24 March 1977 – 1 July 1978 |
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Prime Minister | Morarji Desai |
Preceded by | Kasu Brahmananda Reddy |
Succeeded by | Morarji Desai |
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh | |
In office 3 April 1967 – 25 February 1968 |
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Governor |
Biswanath Das Bezawada Gopala Reddy |
Preceded by | Chandra Bhanu Gupta |
Succeeded by | President's rule |
In office 18 February 1970 – 1 October 1970 |
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Governor | Bezawada Gopala Reddy |
Preceded by | Chandra Bhanu Gupta |
Succeeded by | President's rule |
Personal details | |
Born |
Chaudhary Charan Singh |
Died | 29 May 1987 New Delhi, India |
(aged 84)
Political party | Janata Party (Secular) (1979–1987) |
Spouse(s) | Gayatri Devi (died in 2002) |
Children | Satya Wati, Ved Wati, Gyan Wati, Saroj Verma, Ajit Singh, Sharda Singh |
Alma mater | Agra University |
Religion | Hinduism |
Chaudhary Charan Singh
23 December 1902
Noorpur, United Provinces, British India
Chaudhary Charan Singh (23 December 1902 – 29 May 1987) was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, serving from 28 July 1979 until 14 January 1980. Historians and people alike frequently refer to him as the 'champion of India's peasants.'
Charan Singh was born in a Jat family in 1902 in village Bhadola of Ghaziabad District in Uttar Pradesh Charan Singh entered politics as part of the Independence Movement motivated by Mohandas Gandhi. He 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. Before independence, as a member of Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces elected in 1937, he took a deep interest in the laws that were detrimental to the village economy and he slowly built his ideological and practical stand against the exploitation of tillers of the land by landlords.
Between 1952 and 1967, he was one of "three principal leaders in Congress state politics." He became particularly notable in Uttar Pradesh from the 1950s for drafting and ensuring the passage of what were then the most revolutionary land reform laws in any state in India under the tutelage of the then Chief Minister Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant; first as Parliamentary Secretary and then as Revenue Minister responsible for Land Reforms. He 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. Though his position in the faction-ridden UP Congress was weakened, this was a point when the middle peasant communities across castes in North India began looking up to him as their spokesperson and later as their unquestioned leader. Singh stood for tight government spending, enforced consequences for corrupt officers, and advocated a "firm hand in dealing with the demands of government employees for increased wages and dearness allowances." It is also worth noting that within the factional UP Congress, his ability to articulate his clear policies and values made him stand out from his colleagues.