Jagjivan Ram
Jagjivan Ram ( Hindi जगजीवन राम Jagajīvan Rām ; born April 5, 1908 in Chandwa , Arrah , Bihar ; † July 6, 1986 in Delhi ; formerly Jagdschivan ) was an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress (INC), whose president he was from 1970 to 1971 was, as well as the Janata Party .
biography
Origin, studies and promotion to a member of parliament
Despite his simple origin from the lower caste of the Chamar, he was able to take up a Birla scholarship to study at the Banaras Hindu University and graduated in 1931 with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) from the University of Calcutta .
This completed degree gave him a unique position in the political situation of the time. His knowledge of the social and economic situation, gained from his own experience, made him a sought-after man on the part of the nationalists and those in power in the provinces ruled by the British. The nationalists sought his help in winning Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar , the leader of the Dalits , who called for his own elections and spoke of the Harijans leaving the Hindu faith .
When political interest representation was introduced by a law in 1935, which also granted casteless sections of the population a representation in the legislature , Jagjivan Ram became a member of the Council of Bihar. Although he enjoyed widespread recognition, he decided to join the Nationalists and resigned from the council because of his position on the issue of irrigation policy . In 1937 he was elected member of the Legislative Assembly and was an active supporter of the 1940 by Mahatma Gandhi designed political strategy Satyagraha and the "Quit India" movement Gandhi. In 1946 he became a member of the interim government.
After India's independence on August 15, 1947, he was elected as a representative of the casteless to the Constituent Assembly and the Provisional Parliament and was also the spokesman for the Congress Party on questions of the lower castes.
As Minister of Labor he was a member of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet from August 1947 to 1952. After a cabinet reshuffle, he was then Minister of Communications from 1952 to 1956, before becoming Minister for Transport and Railways between 1956 and 1962 . After further restructuring of the government, he was last Minister for Transport and Communications from 1962 to 1963.
In 1966 he was appointed to the cabinet by the new Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and was first Minister for Labor, Employment and Rehabilitation before becoming Minister for Food and Agriculture of the Indian Union government between 1967 and 1970. In 1969 Indira Gandhi proposed him before the presidential election in 1969 as a candidate of the INC for the office of state president , but could not prevail.
President of the INC and Vice Prime Minister
During the widespread split in the Indian National Congress in 1969, he belonged to Indira Gandhi's camp and was not only President of the INC in 1970, but also the second most powerful member of Prime Minister Gandhi's cabinet as Defense Minister on June 27, 1970. The office of party president held until the end of 1971. On October 10, 1974, he gave up his office as defense minister to Sardar Swaran Singh , who was also his predecessor in this office. He was made a scapegoat by Indira Gandhi for the political development during the emergency . He himself was then Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation from 1974 to 1977.
In 1977 he left the Indian National Congress and instead became a member of the opposition Janata Party. After the Janata Party's victory in the parliamentary elections , he was appointed Minister of Defense in his cabinet on March 27, 1977 by the new Prime Minister Morarji Desai and was a member of this until the end of Desai's term of office on July 28, 1979.
Between October 9 and December 10, 1979, he was briefly Vice Prime Minister of India in the government of Chaudhary Charan Singh .
After the INC came back to power in 1980, he left the Janata Party out of disappointment and then founded his own party with the Congress Party (J) and remained a member of the Lok Sabha until his death.
His daughter Meira Kumar is also a Congress Party politician and was Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment before she was elected the first female president of the Lok Sabha in 2009.
Talk
In his inaugural address as President of the Congress Party at the Party Congress in Mumbai in 1969 :
- "The Indian National Congress, as it existed in 1948, had actually, to use Gandhi's words, lived out its usefulness as a propaganda machine. It had therefore pushed for the establishment of popular-related activities for another plan, based on the concept of the people's committees The catastrophic events that followed this prognosis led to a complete break with the past and the construction of something new from the humanly impossible. The organization required for this continued in its pre-independence form. The administrative apparatus also remained unchanged. The old procedures continued to hold the field, all made for a leisurely transition and persistence, but it was stifled by the emerging spirit of freedom that grew through political independence.
- This session, in a way, fulfills Gandhi's wish, not completely, but partially, not in form but in spirit. It heralds the beginning of a new historical epoch for the Indian National Congress. "
literature
- SR Bakshi: Jagivan Ram: The Harijan Leader . In: Indian Freedom Fighters . No. 25 . South Asia Books, New Delhi 1992, ISBN 81-7041-496-2 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ In the dust. Spiegel online, August 27, 1979, accessed August 11, 2019 .
- ↑ INDIAN EXPRESS: Indira made Jagjivan Ram scapegoat during Emergency, says biography (July 6, 2010)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ram, Jagjivan |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Babuji (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Indian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 5, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chandwa , Bihar |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 6, 1986 |
| Place of death | Delhi |