Captain Rao Birender Singh
Singh on a 2023 stamp of India
Chief Minister of Haryana
In office 24 March 1967 – 20 November 1967
Governor	Dharma Vira Birendra Narayan Chakraborty
Preceded by	Bhagwat Dayal Sharma
Succeeded by	President's rule Bansi Lal
Union ministerial positions Minister of Agriculture In office 14 January 1980 – 31 October 1984 4 November 1984–31 December 1984 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi Preceded by Brahm Prakash Succeeded by Buta Singh Minister of Rural Development In office 20 January 1980 – 29 January 1983 Minister of Rural Reconstruction until 23 January 1982 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi Preceded by Bhanu Pratap Singh Succeeded by Harinath Mishra Minister of Irrigation In office 12 November 1980 – 15 January 1982 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi Preceded by Kedar Pandey Succeeded by Kedar Pandey Minister of Civil Supplies and Cooperation In office 19 March 1981 – 2 September 1982 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi Preceded by Vidya Charan Shukla Succeeded by Bhagwat Jha Azad Minister of Food and Civil Supplies In office 31 December 1984 – 25 September 1985 Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi Preceded by Bhagwat Jha Azad Succeeded by Kamakhya Prasad Singh Deo In office 21 November 1990 – 21 June 1991 Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar Preceded by Chandra Shekhar Succeeded by Ministry bifurcated Tarun Gogoi (Food) P. V. Narasimha Rao (Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution)
Personal details
Born	(1921-02-20)20 February 1921 Rewari,Punjab,British India
Died	30 September 2009(2009-09-30) (aged 88) Gurgaon,Haryana,India
Party	Vishal Haryana Party
Spouse	Chandra Prabha
Children	Rao Inderjit Singh Sudha Rani Rao Rao Ajit Singh Rao Yadavendra Singh
Parent	Rao Balbir Singh
Relatives	Rao Sheoraj Singh (brother) Rao Ashok Singh (nephew)
Military service
Allegiance	British India  India
Branch/service	British Indian Army  Indian Army
Years of service	(1939–1947) (1950-1951)
Rank	Captain
Unit	Territorial Army

Maharaja Rao Birender Singh (20 February 1921 – 30 September 2009)^[1][2][3] was an Indian politician. He served first as a minister in the state government ofPunjab and then asChief Minister of Haryana, and also served as a minister inPunjab state,Haryana state and theUnion cabinet. He also served as the secondSpeaker (first male speaker) ofHaryana state assembly in 1967. He coined an Indian political vocabularyAaya Ram, Gaya Ram to describe the practice of frequently floor-crossing by legislature.

Rao was born in 1921 and hailed from aYaduvanshi Ahir royal family ofRewari,Punjab Province (British India), [nowHaryana] inBritish India.^[4][5] Rao Balbir Singh.^[6] He claimed that his family is directly descended fromRaja Rao Tularam Singh.^[7]

The years that Birendra Singh spent at St. Stephen's college were the early years of India's independence. The college was situated inNew Delhi, the very hub of political activity, and Birendra Singh was drawn to politics by the environment. The first elections in free India were held in 1952 and Birendra Singh contested as an independent candidate from his native Ahirwal region, of which the city ofRewari is the urban center. He lost that election because there were many twists and turns of the politics in the Ahirwal region.^{[8][citation needed]}

Birendra Singh then joined theCongress Party. Rather than contest elections to the State Legislative Assembly, he got nominated to the State Legislative Council, which is the upper house of the state legislature. His clipped accent and very progressive views were admired by Nehru and many. His royal background and leadership skills helped Nehru in dealing with more recalcitrant royals from the princely states. Thus, Birendra Singh became a member of the State Legislature of the Indian state of undivided Punjab, known informally asEast Punjab, without winning an election. He would serve as a nominated member for two successive terms (a total of 12 years) until 1966. During these years, he was made a minister in thePratap Singh Kairon government and held charge, at various times, of several important ministries likePWD, Irrigation, Power, Revenue and Consolidation, etc.^{[9][citation needed]}

When India became independent in 1947, the old province ofPunjab waspartitioned andEast Punjab was retained byIndia. SeveralPrincely states located on the plains of East Punjab were merged to create the state ofPEPSU. Several other princely states in the hills of East Punjab were similarly merged to create the Chief Commissioners' Province ofHimachal. The portion which had been directly ruled by the British (rather than by the Maharajas of various princely states) became a third, separate state and received the namePunjab. The Ahirwal region andRewari lay within this state ofPunjab (India), and Birendra Singh was a minister in this state. In the period 1956–66, the three political entities described above were merged and de-merged so that finally, in 1966, the political map of the region as it stands today emerged.^{[citation needed]}

The final step in this process of re-organization was the separation of theHindi-speaking areas of Punjab into the new state ofHaryana, and the creation of theUnion Territory ofChandigarh to serve as the common capital of both states. This was accomplished after some acrimony and political maneuvering. Rao Birendra Singh played a prominent role in this process of division. He did so because Ahirwal/Rewari was a Hindi-speaking area in the near vicinity ofDelhi and he felt that the Hindi-speaking people of undivided Punjab were not getting their just due in the political dispensation. Therefore, beginning 1962, he spearheaded the campaign for division and achieved success when the state of Haryana was born in November 1966.^{[citation needed]}

After the formation of Haryana in November 1966, Bhagwat Dayal Sharma became Haryana's first Chief Minister, and Birendra Singh was elected the first speaker of the Haryana assembly which was a spin-off from the Punjab Assembly. The first-ever poll to Haryana Vidhan Sabha was held in March 1967. Birender Singh was elected a member of theHaryana Legislative Assembly from thePataudi assembly constituency as Congress Party's candidate. However, he established theVishal Haryana Party immediately by defecting from Congress with many MLAs. He was appointed Chief Minister of Haryana on 24 March 1967, replacingBhagwat Dayal Sharma^[10] with his newly formed VHP assuming power.

But the assembly was dissolved, and Haryana placed under President's rule, in November 1967. Congress won the Vidhan Sabha election in 1968 and Bansi Lal became Chief Minister. Birender Singh's VHP came creditable second to Congress in the election.^{[citation needed]}

He was elected to the5th Lok Sabha in 1971 from theMahendragarh on the Vishal Haryana Party ticket.^{[citation needed]}

In 1977 general election he lost his Mahendragarh Seat as Vishal Haryana Party Candidate. In September 1978 he merged this party with the Congress. In 1980, he was re-elected to the7th Lok Sabha and he played a prominent role in the formation of the Congress Government in the centre. He served inNinth Cabinet of India as CabinetMinister of Agriculture (India), Food, Rural development, Irrigation, and Civil supply. In 1984, he was re-elected to the8th Lok Sabha fromMahendragarh (Lok Sabha constituency) and became a part of the10th ministry of India under prime ministerRajiv Gandhi. He later resigned from both the Congress party and the Lok Sabha in 1989 on the issue ofBofors scandal. He joined Janata Dal and was elected to 9th Loksabha in 1989, and became Cabinet minister in the Chander Shekhar's Govt. In 1991 General election he lost Mahendragarh seat.In 1996 General election he contested as INC candidate and lost. He left active politics after 1996. Rao Birender Singh died on 30 September 2009 at the age of 89.^{[citation needed]}

Rao Birender Singh also enrolled in theTerritorial Army during theSecond World War.^{[citation needed][11]}

• In 1947, he resigned from the army as acaptain. He came to Rampura and took all the movable and immovable property of Rao Balbir Singh in his possession.^{[12][citation needed]}
• In the batch of 1949–50, he was selected forIndian Police Service but he did not join that service.
• Again in 1950 to 1951, he joined theTerritorial Army as aCommissioned Officer.^{[citation needed][13]}

By his efforts, Rewari was made a separate district in 1989. The ruling government was of Chaudhary Om Prakash Chautala who was the Chief Minister.^{[citation needed]}

Apart from his political service to the Nation Rao Birender Singh also served the backward areas of Ahirwal by establishing many educational institutions likeAhir College Rewari, RBS School-Rewari, Rao Tularam School- Rewari, Rao Tularam Technical College-Delhi. He was the founder of RBS College of Education- Rampura, Rewari.^{[citation needed]}

He died ofcardiac arrest inGurgaon on 30 September 2009.^[14]

• List of Rao rulers of Rewari

• Dr. Ravindra Singh Yadav & Vijaypal, 1857 ki kranti k purodha: Rao Raja Tularam, 2013, Punit Publication Jaipur,ISBN 978-81-88559-54-1
• Krantidoot Rao Raja Tularam, 1999, Engg. Anil Yadav, Sarita Book House, Delhi.

• 1921 births
• 2009 deaths
• India MPs 1971–1977
• India MPs 1980–1984
• India MPs 1984–1989
• India MPs 1989–1991
• Chief ministers of Haryana
• Haryana MLAs 1968–1972
• Speakers of the Haryana Legislative Assembly
• Lok Sabha members from Haryana
• People from Rewari district
• Leaders of the opposition in Haryana
• Agriculture ministers of India
• Indian National Congress politicians from Haryana
• Janata Dal politicians
• Vishal Haryana Party politicians
• Indian Army personnel
• British Indian Army personnel
• 20th-century Indian royalty
• 20th-century Indian military personnel
• Haryana MLAs 1977–1982

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