Mohan Lal Sukhadia

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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 young 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’.

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

Early life

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

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. 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.

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 much required socio-economic reforms in the region. 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 Jun, 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.

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. To provide wider base to the agitation and direction to the civil right movement and administrative reforms in Udaipur state, Mewar Praja Mandal was founded in 1938 having renowned social activist and freedom fighter Manikya Lal Verma as its president. Young promising Mohal Lal Sukhadia joined the mandal, that provided a dose of fresh vigor to Mewar Praja Mandal.

At that time, 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. Public workers were not allowed to enter Bhil villages as zamidars considered contact of activists with simple-minded peasants undesirable. Fearing the torment of their zamidars, most of the locals were reluctant to shelter national activists in their houses. Often activists were beaten and arrested by police for entering Bhil villages.

He became a full-time member of Rajputana Provincial Congress Committee and started actively participating in its meetings. These meetings were held in one of the Rajputana provinces in every two-three months and representatives of different provinces used to come and share their problems. Sukhadia’s matter-of-fact and efficient problem solving tactics were valued highly in these meetings, which 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 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 1 and half years at a mere age of 25 years.

Intense torrential rainfall of 1943 devastated Bhilwara and nearby areas causing huge destruction of property and life. Sukhadia quickly swung into action by mobilizing relief workers and arranging 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.^[1]
In first phase, four Princely States of Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karauli formed the Matsya Union.
On 25 March 1948, Union of Rajasthan was formed comprising of Banswara, Bundi, Dungarpur, Jhalawar, Kishangarh, Pratapgarh, Shahapura, Tonk and Kota.
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. 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. On 15 May, 1949, Matsya Union also merged with Rajasthan.
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 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.

Veteran Jai Narayan Vyas was directly pitched against young 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.

Notes

^ "History of Legislature in Rajasthan". 'Rajasthan Government. Retrieved 2008-08-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

References

External links

[1] "History of Legislature in Rajasthan". 'Rajasthan Government. Retrieved 2008-08-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

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