Bal Gangadhar Kher

Bal Gangadhar Kher ( Marathi बाळ गंगाधर खेर ; * August 24, 1888 in the Ratnagiri district , British India ; † March 8, 1957 in Poona , Bombay ) was an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress (INC), who, among other things, between 1947 and 1952 Chief Minister of Bombay , member of the Rajya Sabha in 1952 and both High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ambassador to Ireland from 1952 to 1954 .

Life

Kher, son of Gangadhar Shankar Kher, who comes from a middle-class family, grew up in the princely state of Jamkhandi and attended the New English School in Poona (Pune) with the support of Gopal Krishna Gokhale . He then began an undergraduate degree at Wilson College in Bombay , which he graduated in 1908 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) with honors. A postgraduate course of the law , he finished with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) and was then as a lawyer working.

In 1937, Kher was elected a member of the legislative assembly of the Bombay Presidency and was a member of this until 1947. During this time he was also chief minister of the presidency between 1937 and 1939. On March 30, 1946, he was again Chief Minister of the Bombay Presidency and, after India's independence from the United Kingdom on August 15, 1947, first Chief Minister of the state of Bombay, which emerged from the Bombay Presidency . He held this post until April 20, 1952 and was replaced the following day by Morarji Desai . He was also a member of the Constituent Assembly of India between 1946 and 1950 . During this time he was also a member of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Bombay from 1947 to 1952. For a time he was also Vice President of the Indian National Congress (INC) of this state and was the initiator of the establishment of the University of Poona on June 10, 1948.

On April 3, 1952, Kher became a member of the Rajya Sabha , the upper house of the Indian Parliament , but only belonged to it for three months until July 14, 1952. He then succeeded VK Krishna Menon as High Commissioner in the United Kingdom and as Ambassador to Ireland in 1952 . He held this diplomatic post until 1954 and was then replaced by Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit , the younger sister of the then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru . In 1954 he was one of the first personalities to be awarded the Padma Vibhushan , the second highest Indian civilian merit after the Bharat Ratna .

His marriage to Dwarka Nigudkar had five sons. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, the Indian Post issued a postage stamp with a face value of 60 Paise .

Web links

• Entry on the homepage of the Rajya Sabha
• Entry in rulers.org

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bombay: Chief Minister
2. ↑ Maharashtra: Chief ministers
3. ↑ Homepage of the Indian Post