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Revision as of 22:43, 28 October 2008

,

Template:Infobox revolution biography

Mohan Lal Sukhadia (31 Jul 1916 – 2 Feb 1982) was a political and social leader who served as Chief Minister of Rajasthan for 17 years (1954 - 1971). He became Chief Minister at age of 38 years and was responsible for bringing major reforms and developments in Rajasthan. He is still widely revered as ‘Founder of Modern Rajasthan’.[1] [2]

He also served as Governor of Karnataka, Andra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Early life

Mohanlal Sukhadia was born in Jhalawar, a small town located near Udaipur. His father, Purshottam Lal Sukhadia, was a well known cricketer of Bombay and Saurashtra team.[3]

After completing primary education in Nathdwara and Udaipur, he went Mumbai to attain Diploma in Electrical engineering from VJTI. Sukhadia got elected as General Secretary of student’s body in VJTI. Mr. Berley, British Principal of the college, wanted to invite governor of Bombay in a college ceremony. Sukhadia, along with other students, vehemently opposed the idea and asserted to invite then Chief Minister of Bombay Government Shri B. G. Kher instead. Finally, college authorities had to bow down against the demands of students.[4] Sukhadia successfully led his first revolt against British Rule exemplifying his uncanny leadership abilities and managerial skills.

During college days, he came in contact with prominent national leaders like Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Yusuf Meherally and Ashok Mehta. Sukhadia used to regularly attend meetings of congress workers and volunteers headed by Sardar Patel in Mumbai.[5]

When he came back to Nathdwara, he started a small Electrical workshop. This shop was essentially a meeting place where Sukhadia and his friends would discuss about the ubiquitous autocracies of British Rule and socio-economic reforms in the region.[6] Various education and social awareness programs were schemed and executed in the region by Sukhadia and his fellow workers.

He married to Indubala on 1 June 1938 in Beawar. This inter-caste marriage was not an ordinary event in those days of society. Reckoning a stiff backlash in Nathdwara and Udaipur, Sukhadia decided to perform the ceremony in Beawar adhering to customs of Arya Samaj. When he returned back to Nathdwara with Indubala, he was hailed by large number of his supporters. Young overjoyed supporters thronged the streets of Nathwara, steered a huge rally across the town and greeted him with slogans, “Mohan Bhaiya Jindabad”. This remained to be one of the most memorable and inspiring moments of his life. Sukhadia himself acknowledged this fact to one his protagonists few days before his death.[7]

Contribution in Freedom Struggle

On account of excessive taxes and autocratic rule of princes and jagirdars, Praja Mandals were formed in different states of Rajputana. These mandals provided wider base to the agitation and direction to the civil right movement and administrative reforms in various princely states. In Udaipur state, Mewar Praja Mandal was founded in 1938 having renowned social activist and freedom fighter Manikya Lal Verma as its president. Mohal Lal Sukhadia joined the mandal.

Freedom struggle in Rajasthan was facing twofold and threefold resistance in form of British raj, princely states and local zamidars. Sukhadia along with other activists traveled across remote tribal areas and villages of the region, established direct contact with local peasants and tribesmen, edified them about their constitutional rights and encouraged to espouse the national movement. Fearing the torment of their zamidars, most of the locals were reluctant to shelter national activists in their houses. Public workers were not allowed to enter Bhil villages as zamidars considered contact of activists with simple-minded peasants undesirable. Often they were beaten and arrested by police for entering Bhil villages.

In 1946, Praja Mandals of various states merged to form a state-wide oraganization and named it Rajputana Prantiya Sabha. Sukhadia was inducted in Executive Committee of this newly formed organization. Party meetings were held in one of the Rajputana provinces in every two-three months where representatives of different provinces discussed and debated on common problems of the states. Sukhadia’s matter-of-fact and efficient problem solving tactics were valued highly in these meetings that earned him recognition of top leaders in the state.

Responding to Mahatma Gandhi’s call of “Quit India” in 1942, entire Rajasthan plunged into Quit India Movement with leaders like Manikya Lal Verma, Heera Lal Shastri , Gokulbhai Bhatt, Jai Narayan Vyas and Mohanlal Sukhadia playing instrumental role in channelizing it. Seeing the situation go beyond control, British Government decided to contain top leadership by incarcerating them. Sukhadia stayed in jail for one and half years at the age of 25.

Intense torrential rainfall of 1943 devastated Bhilwara and nearby areas causing huge destruction of property and life. Sukhadia mobilized relief workers and arranged food supply, medicines and clothing for the people.

Independence and Participation in Government

On 15 August 1947, 22 big and small princely States of Rajasthan(erstwhile Rajputana) agreed to join Union of India. Their merger and unification took place in a phased manner over a period of 2 years.[8]

In first phase, four Princely States of Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karauli formed the Matsya Union.[9]
On 25 March 1948, Union of Rajasthan was formed comprising of Banswara, Bundi, Dungarpur, Jhalawar, Kishangarh, Pratapgarh, Shahapura, Tonk and Kota. .[10]
Three days after formation of Union of Rajasthan, Maharana of Udaipur decided to join Union of Rajasthan on 28 March, 1948. It was formally inaugurated by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru on 18 April, 1948 and cabinet was formed under the leadership of Manikya Lal Verma.[11] Mohan Lal Sukhadia joined the cabinet as Irrigation and Labor Minister.
In fourth phase, states of Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jaipur and Jodhpur merged with Union of Rajasthan. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel inaugurated unified Rajasthan on 30 March, 1949 and Shri Heera Lal Shastri formed the cabinet to become first Chief Minister of Rajasthan.[12] On 15 May, 1949, Matsya Union also merged with Rajasthan. .[13]
After Heera Lal Shasrti resigned from the post on 26 March 1951, Jai Narayan Vyas took over his post. Sukhadia was appointed as minister in newly created cabinet.

First state Legislative elections of Rajasthan were held in 1952. Tika Ram Paliwal became Chief Minister on 3 March 1952 for a brief period of time. Jai Narayan Vyas replaced him on 1 November 1952. Sukhadia handled Revenue, Irrigation, Agriculture and other significant portfolios during this period.
After elections in 1952, 22 members of Ram Rajya Parishad joined Congress Party on persuasion of Jai Narayan Vyas. However, congress workers objected to his decision as most of the Ram Rajya Parishad members were former zamirdars and believed this would affect ongoing land reforms in the state. Amidst growing resentment against Jai Narayan Vyas, Congress High command directed him to seek Vote of Confidence of Congress legislative members.[14]

Veteran Jai Narayan Vyas was directly pitched against the 38 year-old Revenue Minister of his own cabinet, Shri Mohan Lal Sukhadia. First time in history of Democratic India, two people were openly contesting for post of Chief Minister. Sukhadia defeated him by 8 votes to become youngest Chief Minister of India. He continued on this post for record making 17 years(13 Nov 1954 - 8 Jul 1971). His record of longest-serving Chief Minister in Indian political history was untouched until Jyoti Basu surpassed it in 1994.[15]

Sukhadia Era of Rajasthan Politics

Land Reforms in the State

Zamindari system, which had prevailed in Rajasthan for centuries, percolated deeply in socio-economic system of the state by the time of independence. Poor peasants were subjected to atrocities of their zamindars, had no right on the land they tilted and often had to pay very high land revenues.

Land reforms in each Indian state were given highest importance since independence. Initiating the process of land reforms, Central government appointed the Congress Agrarian Reforms Committee in 1949 that recommended a wide range of reforms across the country. Nehru and his colleagues in the cabinet agreed that there cannot be any lasting improvements in agricultural production and efficiency without the comprehensive reforms in the country’s land reform.[16]

Congress government under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru passed law to abolish the zamindari system. Impact of law was very limited in beginning years as zamindars approached the Supreme Court challenging the orders. Since the Constitution had guaranteed the right to property under Article 19, court ruled that the policy of abolition of the zamindari system violates the right to property. To come up with the backdrop, the Congress Government passed the Rajasthan Jagir Abolition Act in 1952.[17] With this Act, Jagirdari system in the state was abolished and the power of judicial review over these legislations was taken away from the courts and the fundamental right to the property was amended. Reckoning the fact that land reforms would not be easy without establishing an efficient or uniform system of revenue administration, Sukhadia was given the challenging post of Revenue Minister in the cabinet.[18]

When Sukhadia took over as Chief Minister in 1954, challenging task of implementing the reforms layed ahead of him. Sukhadia government passed Rajasthan Zamindari and Biswedari Abolition Act in 1959 that transfered the title of land to the tenants doing away with centuries old zamindari system in Rajasthan.[19]

Factors like political influence of jagirdars and jamindars, confusing varieties of land system in the different princely states and lack of reliable land records made the implementation immensely difficult. Sukhadia confronted all these hindrances and led land reforms in the state successfully. [20]


Development in Health and Education Sector

Rajasthan was one of the least developed states in India at the end of British rule. During the early decades of the twentieth century Rajasthan had one of the lowest levels of education and highest levels of mortality of all provinces in India.[21] In 1931 99.4% of the female and 93% of the male population of the province was illiterate. According to the 1941 Census of India, the proportion of children dying below age 2 in Rajasthan (0.309) was significantly higher than in most regions of India.[22][23]

In his famous ‘tryst with destiny’ speech on the eve of Independence from British rule, India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had declared the eradication of ‘ignorance and disease’ as one of the most crucial tasks that the country faced.[24] Sukhadia Era in Rajasthan witnessed a dramatic reversal of the colonial policy of almost complete neglect of the education and health sectors.[25] The Rajasthan government’s commitment to the social sector is brought out by the fact that despite facing a very precarious budgetary situation and the challenging task of integrating the very different financial arrangements of the various states, it steadily increased its expenditure on social service.[26] One of the clearest signals of this was decision of Sukhadia to retain the Education portfolio even after becoming the Chief Minister of the state.[27]

By the end of 1970, Rajasthan’s outlays on education and health were significantly higher than all other North-Central Indian states and marginally higher than the all-India average. For example, in 1951-52 Rajasthan and UP committed roughly equivalent proportion of their budgets (14%) to the education sector but by the mid-1960s while Rajasthan’s allocation had risen to over 20% that of UP stagnated at 14% [28] By 1969 Rajasthan’s education spending as a proportion of total SDP (3.2%) was double that of UP (1.5%). Similarly, in the health sector, both Rajasthan and UP spent next to nothing per resident in the early 1950s, but while Rajasthan’s expenditure grew to Rs. 8.23 per capita in 1970-71, UP spent only Rs. 3.2 [29]

Notes

  1. ^ Kochar, Kanhiyalal. Rajasthan mein Swatantrata Sangram Ke Amar Purodha : Mohan Lal Sukhadia. p. 5.
  2. ^ Bhatt, Rajendra Shankar. Aadhunik Rajasthan Ke Swapnadrashta Shri Mohanlal Sukhadia. p. 12.
  3. ^ Kochar, Kanhiyalal. Rajasthan mein Swatantrata Sangram Ke Amar Purodha : Mohan Lal Sukhadia. p. 17.
  4. ^ Kochar, Kanhiyalal. Rajasthan mein Swatantrata Sangram Ke Amar Purodha : Mohan Lal Sukhadia. p. 17.
  5. ^ Kochar, Kanhiyalal. Rajasthan mein Swatantrata Sangram Ke Amar Purodha : Mohan Lal Sukhadia. p. 18.
  6. ^ Kochar, Kanhiyalal. Rajasthan mein Swatantrata Sangram Ke Amar Purodha : Mohan Lal Sukhadia. p. 19.
  7. ^ Kochar, Kanhiyalal. Rajasthan mein Swatantrata Sangram Ke Amar Purodha : Mohan Lal Sukhadia. p. 20.
  8. ^ "History of Legislature in Rajasthan". 'Rajasthan Government. Retrieved 2008-08-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "History of Legislature in Rajasthan". 'Rajasthan Government. Retrieved 2008-08-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "History of Legislature in Rajasthan". 'Rajasthan Government. Retrieved 2008-08-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ "History of Legislature in Rajasthan". 'Rajasthan Government. Retrieved 2008-08-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "History of Legislature in Rajasthan". 'Rajasthan Government. Retrieved 2008-08-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ "History of Legislature in Rajasthan". 'Rajasthan Government. Retrieved 2008-08-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ Kochar, Kanhiyalal. Rajasthan mein Swatantrata Sangram Ke Amar Purodha : Mohan Lal Sukhadia. p. 40.
  15. ^ Kochar, Kanhiyalal. Rajasthan mein Swatantrata Sangram Ke Amar Purodha : Mohan Lal Sukhadia. p. 10.
  16. ^ Sharma, Shalendra. Development and Democracy in India. p. 96.
  17. ^ "Acts passed in Rajasthan". 'Rajasthan Government. Retrieved 2008-10-25. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ Kochar, Kanhiyalal. Rajasthan mein Swatantrata Sangram Ke Amar Purodha : Mohan Lal Sukhadia. p. 23.
  19. ^ "Acts passed in Rajasthan". 'Rajasthan Government. Retrieved 2008-08-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ "Report on Implementation of Land Reforms" (PDF). 'Planning Commission of India. Retrieved 2008-10-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ "Subnationalism and Social Development:A Comparative Analysis of Indian States". University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  22. ^ Bhatt, P N Mari. Fertility and Mortality in Colonial India.
  23. ^ "Subnationalism and Social Development:A Comparative Analysis of Indian States". University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  24. ^ "Constituent Assembly of India". 'Parliament of India'. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  25. ^ "Subnationalism and Social Development:A Comparative Analysis of Indian States". University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  26. ^ "Subnationalism and Social Development:A Comparative Analysis of Indian States". University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  27. ^ Kochar, Kanhiyalal. Rajasthan mein Swatantrata Sangram Ke Amar Purodha : Mohan Lal Sukhadia. p. 47.
  28. ^ "Subnationalism and Social Development:A Comparative Analysis of Indian States". University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  29. ^ "Subnationalism and Social Development:A Comparative Analysis of Indian States". University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2008-10-26.

References

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