Arjun Singh | |
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| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | |
| In office 3 April 2000 (2000-04-03) – 4 March 2011 (2011-03-04) | |
| Constituency | Madhya Pradesh |
| Minister of Human Resource Development | |
| In office 22 May 2004 (2004-05-22) – 22 May 2009 (2009-05-22) | |
| Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
| Preceded by | Murli Manohar Joshi |
| Succeeded by | Kapil Sibal |
| In office 23 June 1991 (1991-06-23) – 24 December 1994 (1994-12-24) | |
| Prime Minister | Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao |
| Preceded by | Rajmangal Pandey |
| Succeeded by | Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao |
| Leader of the House in Lok Sabha | |
| In office July 10, 1991 (1991-07-10) – November 20, 1991 (1991-11-20) | |
| Prime Minister | Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao |
| Preceded by | Chandra Shekhar |
| Succeeded by | Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao |
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 1991 (1991) – 1996 (1996) | |
| Preceded by | Sukhendra Singh |
| Succeeded by | Sukhlal Kushwaha |
| Constituency | Satna |
| In office 1985 (1985) – 1988 (1988) | |
| Preceded by | Lalit Maken |
| Succeeded by | Constituency vacant |
| Constituency | South Delhi |
| 12thChief Minister of Madhya Pradesh | |
| In office 14 February 1988 (1988-02-14) – 23 January 1989 (1989-01-23) | |
| Preceded by | Motilal Vora |
| Succeeded by | Motilal Vora |
| In office 9 June 1980 (1980-06-09) – 12 March 1985 (1985-03-12) | |
| Preceded by | President's rule |
| Succeeded by | Motilal Vora |
| Minister of Communications | |
| In office 22 October 1986 (1986-10-22) – 13 February 1988 (1988-02-13) | |
| Prime Minister | Rajiv Gandhi |
| Preceded by | Ram Niwas Mirdha |
| Succeeded by | Vasant Sathe |
| Minister of Commerce | |
| In office 15 November 1985 (1985-11-15) – 20 January 1986 (1986-01-20) | |
| Prime Minister | Rajiv Gandhi |
| Preceded by | Vishwanath Pratap Singh |
| Succeeded by | Punjala Shiv Shankar |
| 16thGovernor of Punjab 3rdAdministrator of Chandigarh | |
| In office 14 March 1985 (1985-03-14) – 14 November 1985 (1985-11-14) | |
| President | Giani Zail Singh |
| Preceded by | Kershasp Tehmurasp Satarawala |
| Succeeded by | Hokishe Sema |
| Member ofMadhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 1990 (1990) – 1991 (1991) | |
| Preceded by | Ajay Singh |
| Succeeded by | Ajay Singh |
| Constituency | Churhat |
| In office 1988 (1988) – 1990 (1990) | |
| Preceded by | Laxmi Patel |
| Succeeded by | Nand Kumar Patel |
| Constituency | Kharsia |
| In office 1977 (1977) – 1985 (1985) | |
| Preceded by | Chandra Pratap Tiwari |
| Succeeded by | Ajay Singh |
| Constituency | Churhat |
| In office 1972 (1972) – 1977 (1977) | |
| Preceded by | KP Singh |
| Succeeded by | Indrajeet Patel |
| Constituency | Sidhi |
| In office 1967 (1967) – 1972 (1972) | |
| Preceded by | Ranvijaya Pratap Singh |
| Succeeded by | Ranvijaya Pratap Singh |
| Constituency | Umaria |
| In office 1957 (1957) – 1967 (1967) | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Constituency dissolved |
| Constituency | Majholi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1930-11-05)5 November 1930 |
| Died | 4 March 2011(2011-03-04) (aged 80) |
| Political party | Independent (1957-1960) Indian National Congress (1960-1996, 1998-2011) All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) (1996-1998) |
| Spouse | Saroj Kumari |
| Children | Ajay Singh Abhimanyu Singh Veena Singh |
| Alma mater | Allahabad University |
Arjun Singh (5 November 1930 – 4 March 2011) was an Indian politician from theIndian National Congress, who served twice as theChief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in the 1980s. He also served twice as theUnionMinister of Human Resource Development, in theManmohan Singh andP. V. Narasimha Rao ministries.
The surrender ofdacoitPhoolan Devi in 1983 was a significant event during his tenure as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, reflecting efforts by his government to restore law and order, particularly in theChambal region, while also dealing with the underlying socio-economic issues.
He is widely remembered for introducing 27% reservation forOther Backward Classes in educational institutions includingAll India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS),Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs),National Institutes of Technology (NITs),Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs),Indian Institute of Science (IISc), with the passage ofNinety-third Constitutional Amendment and Central Educational Institutions(CEIs) (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006.[1] This led toanti-reservation protests against this act. The protests ended after theSupreme Court of India upheld the reservations in higher education.[2]
Arjun Singh was born on 5 November 1930 into aRajput family[3][4] as the son ofShiv Bahadur Singh, a jagirdar and the 26th Rao ofChurhat thikana, and an INC politician. He received hisBachelor of Laws from Rewa Darbar College, where he was the student union president in 1953.[5]
Arjun Singh was first elected to theMadhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly in1957 fromMajholi as anindependent candidate. He joined theIndian National Congress in 1960. He was re-elected from Majholi in1962 and became a minister in the INC government ofDwarka Prasad Mishra.[6]
In1967, he lost the election fromChurhat due to a fallout with the then chief minister Dwarka Prasad Mishra. However, he won a bypoll the same year from Umaria. He was elected fromSidhi in1972 and became a minister in the INC government ofPrakash Chandra Sethi.[6]
In1977, he was elected fromChurhat and became theLeader of Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. In1980, when INC achieved a simple majority in the assembly, he won from Churhat and became theChief Minister ofMadhya Pradesh, despite the presence of strong contenders such as Sethi,Vidya Charan Shukla andShiv Bhanu Singh Solanki.[6]
As chief minister, Singh implemented several populist initiatives, including the regularisation of slums and providing free electricity connections to residents. During his time in office, thedacoitPhoolan Devi surrendered. His five-year tenure was also notably marked by theBhopal Gas Tragedy.[7]
He led the INC to victory in1985, yet again winning from Churhat, but was forced to resign as Chief Minister after just one day due to differences withSriniwas Tiwari.Motilal Vora succeeded him as Chief Minister.[6]
He resigned his Madhya Pradesh assembly seat and was appointedGovernor of Punjab in 1985. He worked for the implementation of theRajiv-Longowal Accord for peace inPunjab. However, after eight months, he resigned as Governor and becameMinister of Commerce in theRajiv Gandhi cabinet. He was elected to theLok Sabha fromSouth Delhi in a bypoll in 1985, necessitated by the assassination of the sitting MPLalit Maken. He was appointed First Vice-President ofIndian National Congress by Rajiv Gandhi.
In 1986, he resigned the Commerce ministry and was appointedMinister of Communications. He held this post till 1988 when he returned to theGovernment of Madhya Pradesh and again became Chief Minister of the state. He resigned hisLok Sabha seat and won a bypoll to theMadhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly fromKharsia in 1988. However, he resigned as Chief Minister in 1989 owing to the Churhat lottery scam, and was succeeded byMotilal Vora. He was elected to the Madhya Pradesh assembly from Churhat in1990 and fromSatna in1991. He resigned his assembly seat and harboured ambitions of becomingPrime Minister after the assassination ofRajiv Gandhi.[6]
However,P. V. Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister and Singh was appointed theMinister of Human Resource Development. He publicly expressed discontent with the Prime Minister Narasimha Rao after theBabri Masjid demolition in 1992.[6] He resigned asMinister of Human Resource Development in 1994.
In 1996, he rebelled against the INC leadership and formed theAll India Indira Congress (Tiwari) along withNarayan Dutt Tiwari. However, he lost in1996 fromSatna.
Later, he returned to INC after the emergence ofSonia Gandhi. He lost in1998 fromHoshangabad.[6]
He was elected to theRajya Sabha in 2000 fromMadhya Pradesh and was re-elected in 2006. He was awarded the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 2000. He served asMinister of Human Resource Development from 2004 to 2009 in theManmohan Singh cabinet.
Arjun Singh had immense contributions for social justice in India. He is credited with implementing reservations forOther Backward Classes in higher educational institutions. After theState Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal, Arjun Singh promised to reserve 27% seats for Other Backward Classes in All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, and other central universities. TheNinety-third Constitutional Amendment, that was introduced by theFirst Manmohan Singh ministry, granted a 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes in all Central Government educational institutions.
The 93rd Amendment Act of 2005 to the Indian Constitution added clause (5) inArticle 15 which enables the government to make any special provision for the development of any socially and educationally backward classes of people, or scheduled castes or scheduled tribes, with regard to their enrolment in educational institutions, which would include private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the government, but apart from minority educational institutions. After the 93rd Amendment Act, the Central Educational Institutions(CEIs) (Reservation in Admission) Act, was enacted by the Union Parliament in the year 2006.
This led to widespreadanti-reservation protests where students engaged in street protests across India. Later on, students took legal action against the Act by filingPublic Interest Litigation, claiming that it violated theBasic Structure of the Constitution of India. In March 2007, theSupreme Court of India granted an injunction to suspension of OBC reservations.[8]
In April 2008, a 5-member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, in theAshoka Kumar Thakur v. Union of India case, upheld theNinety-third Constitutional Amendment, and reinstated the Act in a judgement delivered byChief Justice IndiaK. G. Balakrishnan, with Justices Arijit Pasayat, C K Thakker, R V Raveendran andDalveer Bhandari. OBC reservations were implemented in all central universities and institutions, but the government was required to exclude thecreamy layer from the OBC, but not SC/ST.[9]
Arjun Singh was the Chief Minister ofMadhya Pradesh when thedeadly gas leak from theUnion Carbide factory occurred. It is widely alleged that on the fateful night between 2 and 3 December 1984, when the gas leak occurred, Arjun Singh fled to his Kerwa Dam Palace (outsideBhopal) to save himself from deadly effects of leaked gas and was not available to manage the crisis or lead the administration.[10]
Subsequently, the Arjun Singh government's mishandling was criticised by the court in the verdict on the Bhopal disaster as pronounced by the Chief Judicial Magistrate,Bhopal on 7 June 2010. The media raised serious questions about his role in the release ofWarren Anderson.[11]
In particular, the pilot of the aircraft in whichWarren Anderson flew out of India after the gas leak, has recorded that the final sanction to permit the flight came from Arjun Singh's office.[12]
While Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Singh was involved in the scandal known as the Churhat Lottery case. The Churhat Children Welfare Society was floated in 1982 by relatives of Singh, and permitted to raise funds via lottery, and also given tax relief as a charity.[13] However, there were widespread allegations[14] that substantial sums of money were siphoned off from donations and used to construct the lavishKerwa Dam Palace near Bhopal. The donations to the society included a Rs 150,000 donation fromUnion Carbide,[12] whose chiefWarren Anderson was permitted to leave the country after the gas leak, allegedly by Arjun Singh's office.
At a public litigation hearing, theMadhya Pradesh High Court observed that "Arjun Singh owed an explanation to the nation about the costs and sources of construction of the palatial mansion in Bhopal".[15] While Singh had claimed the value of the palace was Rs 1.8 million, the IT Department estimated the cost at above Rs onecrore.[16]However, a one-judge commission investigating the scandal gave a clean chit to Arjun Singh.[17] The case was re-opened however, after theJain Hawala case,[15] and Singh was asked to submit fresh re-estimates of the palace cost.In court, the case was argued byKapil Sibal and the order for re-examination was squashed on the grounds that it had been issued in a haste and "had not applied his mind".[15]
After theMumbai train bombings of 2006, he reportedly quoted at a Cabinet meeting the statements of a former judge of theMaharashtra High Court that an earlier attempt on the headquarters of the Hindu revivalistRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh inNagpur had been a plot set into motion by the Sangh itself. This followed his denouncement of the Ekal Vidyalayas, one-teacher schools run for the benefit of the tribals of India by theVishwa Hindu Parishad,[18] ascommunal.[19]
A case under the Anti-Dowry Act was registered against Arjun Singh in 2007. The thenUttar Pradesh government had decided to seekCBI inquiry into dowry harassment case.[20]
Arjun Singh was accused of irregularities and corruption in the grant of "Deemed University" status to private for-profit educational institutions which did not meet requisite educational standards, during his tenure as Minister for Human Resources Development. The Government of India initiated proceedings to repeal the "Deemed University" status of 44 such institutions in January 2010.[21]
Singh died on 4 March 2011, at the age of 80. He had been admitted toDelhi'sAll India Institute of Medical Sciences with chest pain andneurological problems, and died of aheart attack.[22] He was cremated at his home town ofChurhat.[23]
Arjun Singh's sonAjay Singh aka Rahul Bhaiya is an INC politician and formerLeader of Opposition in theMadhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. His grandson isArunoday Singh, a Bollywood actor.[24]
Another grandson of his,Yuvaraja Aishwarya Singh of Singrauli is married toDevyani Rana, great-granddaughter ofMohan Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, the last Shree Teen Maharaja of Nepal. Devyani’s father-His Highness Shree TeenMaharajaPashupati Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana is the titular Shree Teen Maharaja of Nepal.
Satna had remained a safe seat for this Rajput chieftain. .... And in any case, Singh happens to be a Rajput and gone are the days when men from the upper castes were accepted as leaders by the OBCs or the Dalits.
In 1956, Vindhya Pradesh merged into Madhya Bharat (present-day Madhya Pradesh minus Chhattisgarh) and since then the region has given two Rajput chief ministers to the state --- Govind Narayan Singh and Arjun Singh.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| Preceded by | Minister of Human Resource Development,Government of India 2004–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Human Resource Development,Government of India 1991–1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh 1988–1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Communications,Government of India 1986–1988 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Commerce,Government of India 1985–1986 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Punjab 1985–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh 1980–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Department of Commerce |
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