Thakur Malkhan Singh

Born in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Thakur Malkhan Singh attended Government High School and later went on to achieve a B.Sc. degree from American Christian College at Allahabad in 1916 and then an LL.B. degree from Agra University in 1929. Even during his collegiate years, he was politically active and defected against authority to assist revolutionary students prior to the first Indian National Congress (INC) movement in 1921.[1] He took part in a number of mutinous activities and was imprisoned in all major INC insurrections.[2]

Malkhan Singh's devotion to community service and the freedom struggle earned him the reverence of other revolutionaries, establishing his reputation as a very prominent Congressman and mobilizing a significant youth support base. After the Indian Independence in 1947, he was elected President of the Aligarh District Congress Committee (DCC). He had been a member of the Congress Socialist Party and became the most eminent of thirteen state legislators who resigned from their positions in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly in 1948 to contest against the INC. After losing the bye-elections in 1948 and the General Elections of 1952 as a Socialist candidate, he re-entered the legislature in 1955 as a PSP candidate, defeating the Congress opponent from Aligarh. On 16 February 1955, Malkhan Singh declared in Lucknow that he had rejoined the INC after the party agreed to pursue a socialistic pattern of society. He was elected President of the Aligarh DCC unanimously. Later, in 1957 he went on to be a minister sharing titles for sports and industries.

Outside politics Thakur Malkhan Singh’s activities were related primarily to benefiting education. He taught in, managed and was the founder of various high schools and colleges. The Malkhan Singh District Hospital, a facility in Aligarh and Malkhan Nagar, a government colony were named after him. For all of his contribution to the freedom struggle, he was bestowed the title of Aligarh Kesari, or lion of Aligarh.

Malkhan Singh married Sidhyawati Devi, who hailed from an aristocratic zamindar family. They were survived by three daughters: Sarla Chauhan, Sushila Singh Chauhan, Dr. Urmila Kushwaha (a reputed doctor of medicine in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh) and two sons: Virendra Singh and Nripendra Singh .