Balram Jakhar
Bal Ram Jakhar (23 August 1923 – 3 February 2016) was an Indian politician, who served as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Governor of Madhya Pradesh. He was also the longest serving Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Bal Ram Jakhar | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 14th Governor of Madhya Pradesh | |
| In office 20 July 2004 – 19 July 2009 | |
| Chief Minister | Uma Bharti Babulal Gaur Shivraj Singh Chouhan |
| Preceded by | Lt. Gen. K. M. Seth (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Rameshwar Thakur |
| Governor of Gujarat | |
Additional Charge | |
| In office 12 July 2004 – 24 July 2004 | |
| Chief Minister | Narendra Modi |
| Preceded by | Kailashpati Mishra |
| Succeeded by | Nawal Kishore Sharma |
| 19th Minister of Agriculture | |
| In office 21 June 1991 – 17 January 1996 | |
| Prime Minister | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Preceded by | Devi Lal |
| Succeeded by | Jagannath Mishra |
| 8th Speaker of the Lok Sabha | |
| In office 22 January 1980 – 27 November 1989 | |
| Deputy | G. Lakshmanan M. Thambi Durai |
| Preceded by | K. S. Hegde |
| Succeeded by | Rabi Ray |
| Leader of Opposition of the Punjab Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 19 June 1977 – 17 February 1980 | |
| Preceded by | Prakash Singh Badal |
| Succeeded by | Prakash Singh Badal |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 23 August 1923 Panjkosi, Punjab, British India |
| Died | 3 February 2016 (aged 92)[1] Delhi, India |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Children | Sunil Jakhar, Sajjan Jakhar, Surinder Jakhar |
| Profession | Farmer, Politician |
Early life and education
Jakhar was born in a HinduJat family in Panjkosi village of Fazilka district in Punjab now in Fazilka on 23 August 1923. His father was Chaudhari Rajaram Jakhar and his mother was Pattodevi Jakhar. Jakhar earned a degree in Sanskrit from Forman Christian College, Lahore, in 1945. He had knowledge of English, Punjabi, Urdu, Sanskrit and Hindi languages.
Politician
A lifelong member of the Congress party, Jakhar founded the Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, a farmers' organization, in 1965. He was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1972 and was re-elected in 1977, becoming the Leader of the Opposition.
Jakhar then moved to national politics. He was elected in 1980 to the seventh Lok Sabha from Ferozepur and in 1984 to the eighth Lok Sabha from Sikar. He had the distinction of being elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha during his very first term in the house. Furthermore, served twice as Speaker of Lok Sabha, a rare achievement in Indian parliament history, holding office from 1980 to 1989, thus became the longest serving speaker in history. As Speaker of Lok Sabha, he promoted automation and computerization of Parliamentary works. He promoted Parliament library, reference, research, documentation and information services for the knowledge and use of members of Parliament. The establishment of Parliament Museum was his contribution. He was the first Asian to be elected Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentarian Executive Forum.
He was an attendee of the second Provisional World Parliament held in New Delhi on March 17, 1985.[2]
The Sikar parliamentary seat was won by Devi Lal in the elections of 1989. In 1991, Jakhar was again elected to parliament from the Sikar constituency and his party returned to power in India. Jakhar was made Union Agriculture minister under Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao in 1991.
After the Congress party returned to power in 2004, he was appointed Governor of Madhya Pradesh and served from 30 June 2004 to 30 May 2009.[3]
Personal life
Jakhar was born into an affluent land-owning Hindu Jat family. His father was Chaudhari Rajaram Jakhar and his mother was Pattodevi Jakhar. Balram Jakhar was the father of three sons:
- Sajjan Kumar Jakhar, the eldest son, is a former minister in the Punjab government. Father of Ajay Vir Jakhar.
- Ajay Vir Jakhar, son of Sajjan Kumar Jakhar, is Chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, a farmer organization, and writes frequently on farmer issues in reputed newspapers.
- Surinder Jakhar, second son, died of a self-inflicted bullet injury (probably accidental) in 2011. Surinder served as chairman of Asia’s cooperative fertiliser giant IFFCO for four terms and chief of Asian Cooperative Alliance for two terms.[4] Surinder is the father of Sandeep Jakhar.
- Sandeep Jakhar, son of Surinder Jakhar, is one of very few candidates who managed to win on a Congress party ticket in the Punjab assembly election of 2022.
- Sunil Jakhar, youngest son. Before resigning from the party in 2022, Sunil was long a member of his father's Congress party. He is a three time MLA from Abohar. He became Leader of the Opposition in Punjab in March 2012. He was elected to parliament from Gurdaspur in 2017 and was made President of his party's Punjab unit the same year. He left the party on 14th May 2022. He is currently serving as President of Bharatiya Janata Party, Punjab unit since 4th July 2023.
References
- "Balram Jakhar passes away". The Hindu. 4 February 2016.
- "Ram Niwas Mirdha News Photo (From left to right) Ram Ni..." Times Of India. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
- "Official Webpage on Loksabha Website". National Informatics Centre, New Delhi. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- Service, Tribune News. "Sandeep fourth Jakhar to enter election arena". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
External links
- . 4 April 2005 https://web.archive.org/web/20050404064123/http://mpinfo.org/hindi/governor/aboutgov.htm. Archived from the original on 4 April 2005. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - "IFFCO chairman Surinder Jakhar shot dead accidentally". Archive.is. 15 July 2011. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2019.