Chaudhary Charan Singh

Name: Chaudhary Charan Singh

Date of Birth: 23 December 1902 – 29 May 1987

Place of Birth: Noorpur



Charan Singh entered politics as part of the Independence Movement. After independence he came to be associated with the rural socialism of Ram Manohar Lohia. Popular particularly among his Jat community from which he himself originated and was born into, his political base was Western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, where that community was dominant.

The leader of the Bharatiya Lok Dal, a major constituent of the Janata party, he was disappointed in his ambition to become Prime Minister in 1977 by Jayaprakash Narayan's choice of Morarji Desai. He settled at the time for the largely honorary post of Deputy Prime Minister of India. However, the internal stresses of the coalition's government caused him to leave the government with the former Lok Dal, after being promised by Mrs. Gandhi the support of the Congress Party on the floor of the House in any efforts to form a government. He was sworn in as Prime Minister with the support of just 64 MPs.

During his term as Prime Minister the Lok Sabha never met. The day before the Lok Sabha was due to meet for the first time the Indian National Congress withdrew their support from his Bharatiya Lok Dal Government. Choudhary Charan Singh resigned and fresh elections were held six months later.

He continued to lead the Lok Dal in opposition till his death in 1987, when he was succeeded as party president by his son Ajit Singh. His association with the causes dear to farming communities in the North caused his memorial in New Delhi to be named Kisan Ghat. (In Hindi, Kisan is the word for farmer.).

The university of Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh India, is named after him (Chaudhary Charan Singh University).