Chandra Shekhar, ambition and idealism’s mix, dies at 80

He became the first president of Janata Party in 1977, when it was formed by the merger of several non-Congress parties. When the Janata Party splintered away, he continued to be president of the original, until 1989, when it was merged with several other non-Congress parties to form the Janata Dal.

After the 1989 election, the Janata Dal was in a position to form the government and Chandra Shekhar believed the post of prime minister was naturally his. But Haryana strongman Devi Lal and V P Singh cut a deal that made the latter the prime minister. After 11-months, Chandra Shekhar used the same Devi Lal to bring down V P Singh, split JD, floated his Samajwadi Janata Party (SJP) and became prime minister with the support of Congress. It was an ambition he had as early as 1977. In 1979 he wrote to JP: “If Shri (Morarji) Desai voluntarily decides to relinquish his post, I will contest the Janata Parliamentary Party leader’s election.” As it happened, it was Charan Singh who replaced Desai.

Chandra Shekhar had travelled a long way to become prime minister. Born on July 1, 1927 in a farmer’s family in Ibrahimpatti in Ballia in eastern Uttar Pradesh, he was known as a firebrand idealist during his student days. At Allahabad University, he joined the socialist movement in the early 1950s. He was elected to Rajya Sabha in 1962 on a Praja Socialist Party (PSP) ticket. From 1977 onwards, he won all Lok Sabha elections from Ballia, except in 1984.

Chandra Shekhar’s Bharat Yatra, a marathon walk from Kanyakumari to Delhi in 1983 highlighted the problems of rural India, and he established centres in various parts in memory of that. During his short tenure as Prime Minister, the country’s foreign exchange reserves dipped to dangerous levels that forced the government to pledge gold at the international market.

Despite the ferocious political battles that he fought, Chandra Shekhar maintained excellent personal rapport with his opponents, including V P Singh. He had a special relation with the Nehru family until the last day, which was not severed even after his arrest by Indira Gandhi.

Madhu Limaye captured the strange mix of ambition and idealism in Chandra Shekhar as follows. “Chandra Shekhar was intelligent and had a good understanding of issues… While he was not completely free from Thakurvad, the key to understanding Chandra Shekhar’s actions was his subjective approach to men and politics… for his friends, he would do any thing.”

For instance, Chandra Shekhar never expelled from his inner circle Suraj Deo Singh, the coal mafia don of Bihar who was killed in 1991.