Former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala
One day during my stay in Chandigarh, I received a call from the residence of Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala saying that the Chief Minister wanted to have dinner with him. The request seemed polite, so I agreed. At seven o’clock sharp, the car from the Chief Minister’s residence came to my house and took me away. Many ministers close to the chief minister were also seated at the table. Education Minister Ram Vilas Sharma is also not from his party. But since the government was campaigned with the help of the BJP, he too was called upon.
After the meal, the Chief Minister came to me and placed a basket of kinnows in front of me and said, Shuklaji, these kinnows come from my own farm. Kinnow is really sweet, whereas normal kinnow is quite sour. I say, Chief Minister, he has the tenderness of Chaudhry Saheb. He said, but your brothers called me bitter. Afterwards, the scene was filled with laughter.
Always considered a spoiled son
Hundreds of allegations have been leveled against the powerful leader of Haryana. From hooliganism, attacks, corruption, fraud to disproportionate assets. But Om Prakash Chautala continued to face every accusation without ever reacting. He served as chief minister of Haryana five times. He can never be ignored in politics. However, his four terms as chief minister lasted for only six months to one and a half years, but his fifth term lasted for five years.
As the son of Chaudhary Devi Lal, Om Prakash Chautala has always been considered a spoiled son. The Mohammed scandal brought him so much disrepute that he was never considered a committed leader. He has always been viewed as a spoiled baby son. But there is no doubt that the leader is personally a very soft-spoken, sweet-talking politician.
Passed level 10 while in prison
Therefore, as soon as Gurgaon heard the news of his death on the night of December 20-21, leaders of various political parties rushed to his residence. At 11:30 pm on Friday, he complained of difficulty breathing. The family rushed him to Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon, where he died at 12 noon. This information shocked everyone.
Om Prakash Chautala, 89, is politically active. He was released from Tihar jail three years ago in 2021. While he was chief minister, he and his son were accused of fraud in the recruitment of basic teachers. In 2013, he was sentenced to ten years in prison for this fraud case. But he was released during the coronavirus pandemic. By then he had spent nine and a half years in prison. This Lal passed the Class 10th examination while in jail. And he was the oldest prisoner in Tihar at that time.
Politically prominent farmers and Jats
As the son of Chaudhry Devi Lal, he could not establish his own identity, but the politician did establish himself politically as a farmer and a Jat. Like Sir Chhothu Ram and Chaudhry Charan Singh, this politician was also willing to do a lot for farmers. But Sir Chotu Ram and Chaudhry Charan Singh were well educated. Both have law degrees. Both of them began their freedom struggle against Congress.
Sir Chhotu Ram later joined Sir Sikandar Hayat’s UP party and before the partition of India he also served as agriculture minister in the undivided state of Punjab. He liberated the peasants from the hands of moneylenders and landowners. Sir Chotu Ram was popular with both Hindu and Muslim farmers. He was born into a Hindu Jat family in Haryana (then Punjab). He died two years before independence.
Chaudhry Charan Singh’s vision is broad
Chaudhary Charan Singh was born in Nurpur village in Meerut district (now Hapur district) in Uttar Pradesh. After B.Sc., he obtained an M.A. in history from Agra University and then obtained a law degree from Meerut College and started practicing law. Thereafter he joined Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement and the Arya Samaj. At that time, the Arya Samaj had great influence among the Jats in western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Due to the reform programs of the Arya Samaj, the Jat farmers were well educated and caste consciousness was inculcated in them. Chaudhry Charan Singh links the spread of this awareness to the larger program of farmers’ reforms. After entering politics, he was elected as the Member of Parliament from Chaprauli (then Meerut district, now Baghpat district) in the 1937 Legislative Assembly elections to the United Provincial Assembly held before independence.
Participate in farmers’ welfare undertakings
The following year, Chaudhary Charan Singh caused an uproar with a proposal to connect farmers directly to markets. After independence, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to follow the Soviet way of cooperative farming, but Chaudhry Charan Singh opposed it. He supports giving farmers rights to their farmland.
He pushed for the passage of the Uttar Pradesh Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1952. In 1953, as Agriculture Minister, he created the post of Lehpal and abolished Patwari in response to the Patwari strike. The Uttar Pradesh Land Conservation Act, 1954, was enacted. On April 3, 1967, Chaudhary Charan Singh became the Chief Minister of UP in the compact government for the first time. Within a year, he resigned. On February 18, 1970, he became chief minister again and resigned in October 1970.
Indira Gandhi knocks down Charan Singh’s chair
Chaudhary Charan Singh started his political career with the Congress and founded the Lok Dal in 1967. After the Emergency, he joined the PPP. The PPP contested the 1977 Lok Sabha elections under the Lok Sabha election symbol. He was appointed as the first Union Home Minister in the PPP government. But Chaudhry Charan Singh wanted strict measures against former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, but Prime Minister Morarji Desai opposed his decision. He resigned within a year and a half when disagreements with the government intensified. Six months later, Morarji Desai appointed Charan Singh as deputy prime minister and handed over the federal finance ministry to him.
On July 16, 1979, he separated from the Morarji cabinet and became prime minister with the help of Congress on July 28, 1979. But Indira Gandhi withdrew her support for Charan Singh’s government before she could win the confidence of the Congress. It was decided to hold Lok Sabha mid-term elections and Chaudhry Charan Singh continued as Prime Minister.
Chautala remained restricted to his own people
Due to this arrangement, Chaudhary Charan Singh got the opportunity to hoist the national flag from the Red Fort on August 15, 1979. Of course, Chaudhary Charan Singh was the country’s farmer leader who could reach the highest office in India. His vision is broad. In this regard, he had more personality than all the Lalas and Jat leaders of Haryana.
Be it Sir Chhotu Ram, Devi Lal or Om Prakash Chautala. But there is no doubt that Om Prakash Chautala, like his Jat leader predecessors, was a land boy. But Om Prakash Chautala’s focus was on his own workers and his own people. He can do anything for the people’s work. He gained a comprehensive understanding of Haryana. He knows every village in Haryana from Sirsa to Palwal, from Rewari to Panchkula.
always believe in fairness
He was instrumental in making Gurgaon a cyber city. He wants to form a third front at the national level to radiate across the country. He’s working on that too. But all his activities came to a halt after he was imprisoned, and a basic teacher recruitment scam further tarnished his image. The fact is that his father’s immense status overwhelmed him to the point where the politician was unable to pursue his inner politics.
About his kindness and impartiality, a retired IAS officer Fateh Singh Dagar said that in 1984, Om Prakash Chautala was contesting Hisar Lok Sabha seat. I’m the election official there. When he was defeated, he came over to me, shook my hand, and thanked me for being fair.
Father’s enemies often surrounded Chautala
According to Mr. Duggal, the siege by Chaudhry Devi Lal’s opponents meant that Chautala had to fight continuously to gain power. They said Om Prakash Chautala’s education was only eighth standard but due to his sharp intellect he proved to be the most capable and powerful leader of Haryana. Even his opponents acknowledged his eloquence.
Even today, he has more fans than his opponents. It is the misfortune of Haryana and its workers that this warrior of extraordinary personality failed to become the Karna of the Mahabharata and that his indomitable courage and extraordinary humanity were belittled by greed. On the one hand he is extremely generous, on the other hand he is greedy.
amazing sense of humor
Despite his serious nature, his sense of humor is commendable. An IAS officer who is popular with the media has not been found to own a car. In this regard, a reporter asked Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala the reason. He then said without any hesitation, brother, it is the job of the Chief Secretary to deliver the car and not the job of the Chief Minister, so if you are so sympathetic to that officer, then you should donate and gift the car to him. Due to these qualities of his, chief ministers of various states sent condolence messages to his family. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Mallikarjun Haq also expressed sadness over Chautala’s death.
