Bindeshwari Dubey

Majdoor Maseeha Bindeshwari Dubey
बिन्देश्वरी दूबे
21st Chief Minister of Bihar
In office 25 March 1985 - 14 February 1988
Preceded by	Chandrashekhar Singh
Succeeded by	Bhagwat Jha Azad
Constituency	Jaridih-Petarbar, Bermo, Shahpur, Giridih
Minister of Law and Justice
In office 14 February 1988 - 26 June 1988
Prime Minister	Rajeev Gandhi
Preceded by	P. Shiv Shankar
Succeeded by	B. Shankaranand
Minister of Labour and Employment
In office 26 June 1988 - 1 December 1989
Prime Minister	Rajeev Gandhi
Preceded by	Ravindra Varma
Succeeded by	Ram Vilas Paswan
President INTUC
In office May 1984 - March 1985
President Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee
In office 1984 - 1985
Succeeded by	Dumar Lal Baitha
Minister of Education Bihar Government
In office (28 May 1973 - 24 June 1973)
Chief Minister	Kedar Pandey
Minister of Transport Bihar Government
In office (25 September 1973 - 18 April 1974)
Chief Minister	Abdul Gafoor
Preceded by	Shatrughna Sharan Singh
Minister of Health Bihar Government
In office (11 April 1975 - 30 April -1977)
Chief Minister	Jagannath Mishra
Preceded by	Kedar Pandey
Lok Sabha
In office (1980 - 1984)
Preceded by	Ramdas Singh
Succeeded by	Sarfaraz Ahmed
Constituency	Giridih
Rajya Sabha
In office (03.04.1988 - 20.01.1993)
Bihar Legislative Assembly
In office (1952 - 1957)
Preceded by	Kamakhya Narain Singh
Constituency	Jaridih-Petarvar
In office (1962 - 1967, 1967 - 1969, 1969 - 1972, 1972 - 1977)
Preceded by	Brajeshwar Prasad Singh
Succeeded by	Mithilesh Sinha
Constituency	Bermo
In office (March 1985 - 03 April,1988)
Preceded by	Anand Sharma
Succeeded by	Dharampal Singh
Constituency	Shahpur
Personal details
Born	14 January 1921 Mahuaon, Bhojpur District, Bihar
Died	20 January 1993 Chennai
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse	Shiv Shakti Devi
Children	Rajmani Chaubey Manorma Choubey Pratibha Chaubey Asha Pandey
Parent	Shiv Naresh Dubey
Residence(s)	Mahuaon, Bhojpur District, Bihar , B-4, City Centre, Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand
Alma mater	St. Michael's High School, Patna National Institute of Technology, Patna
Nickname(s)	Nunnu ji, Baba, Dubey ji

Bindeshwari Dubey (14 January 1921 – 20 January 1993) was a freedom fighter, a veteran trade unionist and an able administrator who served as Chief Minister of Bihar between 25 March 1985 and 14 February 1988. He is popularly known as 'Majdoor Maseeha' (a god for labour class) among the people. People also used to call him 'Baba' (बाबा) with love. He was involved in the nationalisation of collieries of India, specially in the Chhotanagpur region that was then a part of Bihar (now Jharkhand). He held the portfolios of Law, Justice and Labour in the Union Council of Ministers in Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet. Earlier, he had held offices a state level as Minister of Education, Transport and Health. He was a member of the Seventh Lok Sabha between 1980 and 1984, representing the Giridih constituency in Bihar. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1988 until his death. Earlier he had been a member of Bihar Legislative Assembly during 1952-57, 1962–77 and 1985-88. He had also been a National as well as State President of INTUC besides being a Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee President.

Early life

Bindeshwari Dubey was the second of four sons born to a humble farm Kanyakuj Brahmin family in the village of Mahuaon, Bhojpur, Bihar. His father, Shiv Naresh Dubey, was a peasant and despite showing promise in school, Dubey's education was not considered important. This caused him to run away to Patna, where he lived with his maternal uncle and continued his studies at St. Michael High School, Patna. After his matriculation he worked on night-shifts in a factory as well as continuing to offer tuition to people as he had done during his school days in order to fund his education. He was eventually offered a place at the engineering college (now National Institute of technology, Patna) in Patna.

Family

He married Shiv Shakti Devi and they had four daughters - Rajmani Chaubey, Manorma Choubey, Pratibha Chaubey, and Asha Pandey. The first three were married in the same family of 'Kasmar' village in Bokaro district of today's Jharkhand while the youngest one was married in a family of 'Barari' village in a Rohtas district of Bihar. They had no son. Their second daughter Manorma Choubey's son is Ritesh Choubey who is a chairman of a trust named after him, i.e. Bindeshwari Dubey Foundation. After the death of his parents in a road mishap in May 1985, when Dubey was a CM, Ritesh, along with his elder Kins lived with his maternal grand parents till their last breath.

Quit India Movement

Dubey left his engineering studies to join the freedom movement. He has also participated in Quit India Movement in 1942.He was a part of the famous young Turks of Bihar Congress during the independence movement along with Bhagwat Jha Azad, Chandrashekhar Singh, Satendra Narayan Sinha, Kedar Pandey, Abdul Ghafoor all future chief ministers and Sitaram Kesri, future national president of Indian National Congress He encouraged members of his village to join the movement for independence of India and was among a group who set fire to the railway station at Patna, which resulted in him having to escape the attentions of the police by moving to Bermo, where he eventually got a job in a private colliery.

Chief Minister of Bihar

Dubey was a member of Bihar Legislative Assembly for five periods as a representative of the Bermo constituency, being 1952-57, 1962–67, 1967–69, 1969–72, 1972-77. Between 1985-88 he was again a member, this time for the Shahpur constituency.

He was variously minister of education, transport and health in the state of Bihar. He became Chief Minister on 25 March 1985 and held the post until 14 February 1988, gaining a reputation as a good organiser and motivator. He is considered as one of the best Chief Minister of Bihar. During his tenure the state's Credit Deposit Ratio had recorded a highest mark of 35% and the threshold was crossed later during the tenure of Nitish Kumar at the end of 2011-12 fiscal. Dubey was so popular as a Chief Minister that when then Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi called him, considering his administrative abilities, to join his Union Cabinet, the then Opposition Leader of Bihar Karpoori Thakur reached Delhi to request Rajeev not to call Dubey as he was doing quite good as a Chief Minister of the state. However, his Chief Ministership was controversial and there were accusations of genocide and corruption. He launched the 'Operation Black Panther' in Champaran to free the area from the criminals and other anti-social elements. He also launched 'Operation Siddhartha' and 'Mafia Trial' to combat the MCC terrorist group and the Coal Mafias of Dhanbad, respectively.

Indian National Congress

He became the President of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee in 1984 and resigned from it when he became the 21st Chief Minister of Bihar. Earlier he also served the party as a Hazaribag District Congress Committee President.

National offices

Dubey was a member of the Seventh Lok Sabha between 1980-1984 as a representative of the Giridih constituency in Bihar. In this election he defeated many political stalwarts like Ramdas Singh, Vinod Bihari Mahato, Chaplendu Bhattacharya, Lalchand Mahato and Shafique Khan. He was Union minister for law and justice between 14 February - 26 June 1988, after which he was minister of labour until 1 December 1989.

He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 03.04.1988 until his death, 20.01.1993.

Trade Unionism

Dubey was closely connected with the trade union movement in the coal, steel, engineering, power and sugar industries. He was also closely associated with Indian National Trade Union Congress and became its national president in 1981, having previously been a state president. He was also the president of many other labour unions, such as the Rastirya Colliery Mazdoor Sangh (RCMS), the Indian National Mineworkers Federation (INMF), Bokaro Steel Workers Union etc. He campaigned for better wages and working conditions for coal miners, visiting many countries like West Germany, U.K., Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Yugoslavia, Switzerland and Japan to acquaint himself with employment conditions in mines and factories. He represented the country at many international labour conferences and seminars. He attended: (i) 7th session of Coal Mines Committee of I.L.O. in the year 1959 at Geneva. (ii) I.L.O. seminar on Trade Union, Industrial Relations & Productivity in the year 1982 at Tokyo.

See also

• List of Chief Ministers of Bihar