Jagjivan Ram

Babu jagjivan " Babuji " Ram (Hindi: जगजीवन राम ) ( born April 5, 1908 in Chandwa, Arrah, Bihar, † July 6, 1986 in Delhi ) is an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress was (INC ), which he was president from 1970 to In 1971, and the Janata Party.

Biography

Origin, study and climb to the deputies

Despite his humble origins from a lower caste, he could by a Birla scholarship to study at the Banaras Hindu University and graduated in 1931 with a Bachelor of Science ( B.Sc.) at the University of Calcutta from.

This completed study enabled him a unique status in the then political situation. His own experience gained from knowledge of the social and economic situation made ​​him a sought-after man on both sides of the nationalists and the rulers of the ruled by the British provinces. The nationalists were concerned about its assistance by Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the leader of the Dalits, to win the elections and urged own by exiting the Hindu faith spoke through the Harijans.

When the political advocacy was introduced by a law in 1935 that granted also the outcaste populations a representation in the legislatures, jagjivan Ram became a member of the Council of Bihar. Although he possessed a broad recognition, he opted for a collaboration with the nationalists and put his membership in the Council due to its position on the question of irrigation policy down. In 1937 he was elected member of the Legislative Assembly in 1940 and an active supporter of the designed of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi political strategy Satyagraha and the Quit India Movement of Gandhi. In 1946 he became a member of the interim government.

After India's independence on August 15, 1947, he was elected as representative of the untouchables as a member of the Constituent Assembly and the Provisional Parliament and was also the spokesman of the Congress party for issues of lower castes.

As Minister of Labour, he was a member of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of August 1947 until 1952. After a cabinet reshuffle, he was then from 1952 to 1956 Communications Minister, before he was subsequently 1956-1962 Minister for Transport and railways. After a further transformation of the government he was most recently from 1962 to 1963 Minister of Transport and Communications.

In 1966 he was appointed to the cabinet by the new Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and was the first Minister of Labour, Employment and Rehabilitation, before 1967-1970 Minister for Food and Agriculture of the Indian Union Government.

President of INC and Deputy Prime Minister

During the extensive cleavage of the Indian National Congress in 1969, he belonged to the camp of Indira Gandhi and in 1970 not only President of the INC, but on June 27, 1970 the second most powerful member as defense minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Gandhi. The office of party president held until the end of 1971. On October 10, 1974, he gave his position as Defense Minister Sardar Swaran Singh on from that, his predecessor in this office. He was made by Indira Gandhi a scapegoat for political development during the emergency. He himself was then from 1974 to 1977 Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation.

In 1977 he resigned from the Indian National Congress and was instead a member of the opposition Janata Party. After the electoral victory of the Janata Party in the parliamentary elections, he was appointed to the Cabinet on 27 March 1977 by the new Prime Minister Morarji Desai in turn belonged to the defense minister and this until the end of Desai's term of office on 28 July 1979.

Between 9 October and 10 December 1979, he was briefly Deputy Prime Minister in the government of India Chaudhary Charan Singh.

After the INC in 1980 came to power again, he stepped out of disappointment from the Janata Party and subsequently founded the Congress Party ( J) his own party and remained as a representative member of the Lok Sabha till his death.

His daughter Meira Kumar is also a politician of the Congress party and was Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, before she was elected the first female president of the Lok Sabha in 2009.

Speaking

In his inaugural speech as President of the Congress Party, he led at the Party Congress 1969 in Mumbai: