Ram Kishore Shukla

In 1950, Shukla was elected as president of the local gram panchayat and nyaya panchayat in Vindhya Pradesh.[38] He was a keen observer of Cooperative movement in India that is why after freedom he was elected as president of rural cooperative committee of Beohari, marketing co-operative committee, central co-operative banks of Rewa and Shahdol districts, also kept himself indulged in conservation of cooperative institutes.[39] He was initially an exponent of socialism, often counted in the establishment of socialist party in his region, he won beohari constituency seat in the very first general elections of Vindhya Pradesh in 1951 from socialist party only.[14] Although Indian National Congress was in majority, he was one of the 11 who were in Legislative Assembly of Vindhya Pradesh from Socialist Party, the main opposition party.[40] Shukla was unanimously elected the Leader of the Opposition of the Legislative Assembly of Vindhya Pradesh.[4] The undivided Madhya Pradesh was founded on 1 November 1956 he won 1957 general elections as an independent candidate.[15] Although, upon the requisition by Jawaharlal Nehru that all people of socialist cerebration should join Indian National Congress for effective establishment of socialistic society he joined congress party, under which he won the general elections of 1962, 1967, 1980, 1985 and 1993.[16][17][18][19][20] He remained representative of Beohari Vidhan Sabha constituency for a total of seven times, he was one of the few who scored hat-trick in assembly elections from his region.[41] He was known to be a sharp speaker and prime apprehender of parliamentary system.[42]

Shukla with Dr. Balram Jakhar and Queen Mother Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in 1984

He served as a deputy speaker of the assembly for two times in 1968–1972 and 1980–1984.[43] After the resignation of Yagya Datt Sharma in July 1983 who was speaker then,[44] he took charge of executing Speaker and represented in Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conventions of Kenya, Italy, Germany in and after September 1983. In March 1984,[43] he was unanimously elected speaker of the State Assembly, then again was called to represent in Common Wealth Parliamentary Association and similar conventions of Isle of Man, England, United States, Japan and Soviet Union.[35] He was the first person to express his views to start live telecast of meetings of Parliament of India & Legislative Assemblies of Indian states on doordarshan in Commonwealth Parliamentary Association convention in England, so that the peoples of the constituencies can see the official workings of assemblies and Parliament and representatives will also take care of their performance before them.[35] At times when he did not represent his constituency he presided more than five house committees of Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh, in several five-year plans, whereas during his seven time spell as a legislator[14][15][16][17][18][19][20] the departments held by him as a cabinet minister were, Minister of Finance,[28][45][46][47] Minister of Separate Revenue,[29][31][33] Minister of Law and Legislative[29][30][31][32] and minister of Parliamentary Affairs.[30][32][34] During the first monsoon session of him as finance minister and immediate one after Bhopal disaster, he presented his first budget with significant deficit to accommodate humanitarian and rehabilitation funds for Gas tragedy victims.[48]

Shukla with Dr. Balram Jakhar, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other members of Indian & foreign delegations along with Queen Mother Elizabeth seated at front after 30th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference at The Isle of Man in October 1984

Believing that education as the key to improving the lot of his primarily rural constituency, Shukla supported the educational establishments in the area. He was a member of the secondary education board and court of Dr. Hari Singh Gour University and established the Arts & Commerce College in Beohari which was later named after him.[49][50] He was also, at various times, president of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association of Madhya Pradesh, Shahdol Central Cooperative Bank and Bar Association and deputy president of the directorial board of Shahdol Law College.[51]

In 1984, he promoted one officer of state legislature as special secretary and within hours the same officer was promoted to the post of secretary, this was done by virtue of the extraordinary powers vested in him as Speaker, this promotion being first of its kind in history was not appreciated by anyone.[3]

In 1987, during his tenure as minister three people were shot in a public gunfire at a circus in Beohari. Shukla's sons were connected in the case.[52] Circus was being run in front of police station in Beohari.[52][53] First information report stated, shukla's third and fourth son were eye witnessed to be linked with the attackers.[54] Three circus employees, including a woman trapeze artist, were injured following an altercation that took place over the purchase of tickets, witnesses also reported that shots were fired on.[53] Hooligans those were implicated were close associates of shukla's sons and were already facing criminal charges against them.[54] Shukla's sons also had a few pending cases against them. Although anticipatory bail for his fourth son was turned down by district judge at shahdol, police administration was profoundly afraid to act in the case as the government actions were stalled. BJP held a public meeting to condemn and demand shukla's and chief minister's resignation on moral grounds, Kailash Chandra Joshi then opposition leader charged "The government is deliberately suppressing facts in the case and shielding the influential accused".[54] Government had ordered CID enquiry and officer in charge was transferred as district police captain Nandan Dubey, who later became state police chief, found him dubious. All these accusations were denied by shukla's sons by saying that their political rivals from opposition party at city and capital were trying to humiliate them and their father's image. Shukla himself insisted that the whole thing was a political game aimed at hurting him.[54]

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• "General Elections of VP 1951" (PDF). Election Commission of India. 2004.
• "General Elections of MP 1957" (PDF). Election Commission of India. 2004.
• "General Elections of MP 1962" (PDF). Election Commission of India. 2004.
• "General Elections of MP 1967" (PDF). Election Commission of India. 2004.
• "General Elections of MP 1980" (PDF). Election Commission of India. 2004.
• "General Elections of MP 1985" (PDF). Election Commission of India. 2004.
• "General Elections of MP 1993" (PDF). Election Commission of India. 2004.
• "By the order and in the name of Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Urmila Surendra Shukla, Deputy Secretary" (PDF). Department of Panchayat and Rural Development, Government of MP. 1 September 2010.
• "By the order and in the name of Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Urmila Surendra Shukla, Deputy Secretary_2" (PDF). Department of Panchayat and Rural Development, Government of MP. 8 October 2008.

• "Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly". Government of MP. 2004.
• "Pt Ram Kishore Shukla memorial college of arts & commerce". Government of MP. 2005.
• "Santosh Kumar Shukla 1st runner up represented Indian National Congress". Electionplans_dot_com. 2003.
• "Santosh Kumar Shukla performance in general election of Madhya Pradesh". Election Commission of India. 2005.
• "Bhopal Municipal Corporation Officers". Government of MP. 2004.
• "60 acres of prime land taken away from 'royal' owners". The Hindu. 2005. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013.
• "Contacts of Divisional Commissionerate Bhopal". Department of General Administration, Government. Of MP. 2011.

• Shiv Prasad Muflis (25 January 1988). "Article on Speakers of Madhya Pradesh". THE STATES, Free Press Journal, Bombay. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
• India Today Group (1988). Ticket to Ride. Living Media India Pvt. Ltd. p. 108. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
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