Vishwanath Pratap Singh

He was appointed as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1980, when Indira Gandhi was re-elected after the Janata interlude.[11] As Chief Minister (1980–82), he cracked down hard on dacoity, a problem that was particularly severe in the rural districts of the south-west Uttar Pradesh. He received much favourable national publicity when he offered to resign following a self-professed failure to stamp out the problem, and again when he personally oversaw the surrender of some of the most feared dacoits of the area in 1983.[12] The Behmai massacre provoked outrage across the country. V. P. Singh to resigned in the wake of the Behmai killings,[13] as he was the under whom Phoolan Devi surrendered as he saved her life by instructing the police officers to not kill her in the Police encounter to secure the votes of Dalits (though Phoolan's 22 gang members were killed).[14] Singh was an upper caste men and had ruled the vote bank of Upper-caste people in the Uttar Pradesh for the Indian National Congress.[15] And after that, he resumed his post as Minister of Commerce in 1983.[16]

After the he resigned from the position of Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, he was appointed as the Leader of Rajya Sabha in the year 1984 and remained till 1987. Before him the position was assigned to Pranab Mukherjee, who was removed because he then formed his own party Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress.[17] Thereafter Singh this position was given to N. D. Tiwari.[18] He resigned from Rajya Sabha when he quit Congress in 1987.[19]

He was elected to Lok Sabha in 1971 from Phulpur (Lok Sabha constituency). He lost from Allahabad in 1977, but won in 1980 as member of Indira Congress. He resigned from Lok Sabha when he became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in June 1980. After he resigned from Congress and quit as Rajya Sabha member in 1987,[20] he entered Lok Sabha by winning the bye-poll for Allahabad seat vacated by Amitabh Bachchan.[21] He was elected to Lok Sabha from Fatehpur (Lok Sabha constituency) in 1989 and became Prime Minister for 11 months. He was elected from Fatehpur again in 1991, the last time he contested any election.[22]

He was called to New Delhi following Rajiv Gandhi's mandate in the 1984 general election, Singh was appointed to the post of Finance Minister in the tenth Cabinet of India, where he oversaw the gradual relaxation of the License Raj (governmental regulation) as Gandhi had in mind.[31] During his term as Finance Minister, he oversaw the reduction of gold smuggling by reducing gold taxes and giving the police a portion of the confiscated gold.[32] He also gave extraordinary powers to the Enforcement Directorate of the Finance Ministry, the wing of the ministry charged with tracking down tax evaders, then headed by Bhure Lal. Singh's efforts to reduce government regulation of business and to prosecute tax fraud attracted widespread praise.[33]

Following a number of high-profile raids on suspected evaders – including Dhirubhai Ambani and Amitabh Bachchan – Gandhi was forced to sack him as Finance Minister, possibly because many of the raids were conducted on industrialists who had supported the Congress financially in the past.[34] However, Singh's popularity was at such a pitch that only a sideways move seemed to have been possible, to the Defence Ministry (in January 1987).[35] Then he succeeded his position to Rajiv Gandhi.[36]

In the year 1987, Singh was appointed on the position of Defence Minister of India for the first time but only for a period less than 3 months from 24 January 1987 to 12 April 1987. He was at that time preceded to Rajiv Gandhi and succeeded in his position to Krishna Chandra Pant. At that time due to his non-corrupt image, he was also called 'Mr. Clean'.[26] He was not able to do any good work for Defence due to position for such a small time. But his biggest work was in the import of Bofors.[37] Once ensconced in South Block, Singh began to investigate the notoriously murky world of defence procurement. After a while, word began to spread that Singh possessed information about the Bofors defence deal (the infamous arms-procurement fraud) that could damage Gandhi's reputation.[38] Before he could act on it, he was dismissed from the Cabinet and, in response, resigned his memberships in the Congress Party (Indira) and the Lok Sabha.[39] The deal of Bofors also played a very crucial role in making of his Prime Minister of India.[40]

He was appointed as the 16th Minister of External Affairs of India and remained in the position for another very short period of just 3 days from 2 December 1989 to 5 December 1989. He was succeeded by Inder Kumar Gujral for the position.[41]

V. P. Singh faced his first crisis within few days of taking office, when Kashmiri militants kidnapped the daughter of his Home Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir).[53] His government agreed to the demand for releasing militants in exchange; partly to end the storm of criticism that followed, he shortly thereafter appointed Jagmohan Malhotra, a former bureaucrat, as Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.[48][upper-alpha 3]

The Hindus of the Kashmir Valley, were forced to flee the Kashmir valley as a result of being targeted by JKLF and Islamist insurgents during late 1989 and early 1990.[59] Of the approximately 300,000 to 600,000 Hindus living in the Kashmir Valley in 1990 only 2,000–3,000 remain there in 2016. 19 January 1990 is widely remembered by Kashmiri Hindus as the tragic "exodus day" of being forced out of Kashmir.[60] Before governor Jagmohan took over and the governor’s rule was imposed and the army deployed in January 1990, 21 Kashmiri Pandits, a tiny minority of Hindus in the Muslim valley, were killed. Of the 2,150 incidents of violence, 2100 attacks were against civilians.[61] The Home Minister at that time Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was blamed for this act and was called it as the support of the Islamic insurgents to establish Islamic state in Jammu and Kashmir (state).[upper-alpha 4] Singh's administration was proved to be a failed one to protect the hindus from the exodus and was also blamed for the release of the terrorists after the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed as after which the insurgency in the valley increased.[64]

In the year 1989, the government by Singh implemented the SC-ST Act of 1989 to prevent the atrocities against the members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.[65] It was enacted when the provisions of the existing laws (such as the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 and Indian Penal Code) were found to be inadequate to check these crimes (defined as 'atrocities' in the Act).[66] Recognising the continuing gross indignities and offences against Scheduled Castes and Tribes, the Parliament passed the 'Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.[67] The objectives of the Act clearly emphasised the intention of the government to deliver justice to these communities through proactive efforts to enable them to live in society with dignity and self-esteem and without fear or violence or suppression from the dominant castes. The practice of untouchability, in its overt and covert form was made a cognizable and non-compoundable offence, and strict punishment is provided for any such offence. The act was finally passed with somehow controversies.[68]

Singh himself wished to move forward nationally on social justice-related issues, which would, in addition, consolidate the caste coalition that supported the Janata Dal in northern India, and accordingly decided to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission which suggested that a fixed quota of all jobs in the public sector be reserved for members of the historically disadvantaged called Other Backward Classes.[69][upper-alpha 5]

This decision led to widespread protests among the upper caste youth in urban areas in northern India. OBC reservation (less creamy layer) was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2008.[72][73] Culturally unique features of the protests and riots were bandhs (a version of a strike), hartals (a version of a municipal shut-down), dharnas (a version of swarming).[74] Incidents of destruction of public property, looting, and intimidation for bandhs, hartals and dharnas were published and listed geographically as travel information in newspaper articles.[75] Articles also highlighted politicians and victims of rioting during the protests. Although not advisable, late summer travel by airline and vehicle during the protests was possible without delays, between capitals New Delhi and Chandigarh, and Shimla for example. Police prevented extending the range and duration of the strikes, and some strike activity from even occurring.[76] A national state of emergency was largely not declared to mobilize army units against any one demonstration. The strike helped to give large popularity to Mandal Commission report and fueled the political grouping of the OBC castes, which later helped a lot for the strengthening of regional political parties and stronger parties other than Congress and BJP.[77] Due to the loss of lossing the votes of the backward caste neither of the party opposed it and on seeing the protest nor parties declined it.[78]

Even after the passing of the reservations for the Other Backward Class, he was never accepted by them and his upper caste voters also who didn't have trust on him.[79][80]

In 1990, the government-owned financial institutions like the Life Insurance Corporation of India and the General Insurance Corporation of India stonewalled attempts by the Reliance group to acquire managerial control over Larsen & Toubro.[81] Sensing defeat, the Ambanis resigned from the board of the company. Dhirubhai, who had become Larsen & Toubro's chairman in April 1989, had to quit his position to make way for D. N. Ghosh, former chairman of the State Bank of India.[82]

Map of Ram Rath Yatra by L. K. Advani.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party was moving its own agenda forward. In particular, the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, which served as a rallying cry for several Hindu organisations, took on a new life. The party president, LK Advani, with Pramod Mahajan as aide, toured the northern states on a rath – a bus converted to look like a mythical chariot – with the intention of drumming up support.[83] Before he could complete the tour by reaching the disputed site in Ayodhya, he was arrested by Lalu Prasad Yadav's orders at Samastipur on the charges of disturbing the peace and fomenting communal tension. Lalu wanted to prevent the communal clashes which took place at different places for this Rath Yatra, and also Bihar faced a similar scenerio in 1989 due to the Shilanyas by Rajiv Gandhi Government. Karsevaks reached the site on 30th October 1990, and by the orders of Mulayam Singh Yadav police fired openly upon the Kar sevaks. A deadly riot took place in Ayodhya on 2nd November.[84][85][86]

This led to the Bharatiya Janata Party's suspension of support to the National Front government.[87] VP Singh faced the vote of no confidence in the Lok Sabha saying that he occupied the high moral ground, as he stood for secularism, had saved the Babri Masjid at the cost of power and had upheld the fundamental principles which were challenged during the crises. "What kind of India do you want?" he asked of his opponents in Parliament, before losing the vote 142–346;[88][89][90] only a portion of the National Front remaining loyal to him and the Left parties supported him in the vote.[91]

And then, Singh resigned on 7 November 1990.[upper-alpha 6]

External video
The race for PM in Janata Dal and SSP. Retrieved from YouTube on 26 May 2018.

Chandra Shekhar immediately seized the moment and left the Janata Dal with several of his own supporters (including Devi Lal, Janeshwar Mishra, HD Deve Gowda, Maneka Gandhi, Ashoke Kumar Sen, Subodh Kant Sahay, Om Prakash Chautala, Hukam Singh, Chimanbhai Patel, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Yashwant Sinha, VC Shukla, and Sanjay Singh) to form the Samajwadi Janata Party/Janata Dal (Socialist).[92] Although Chandra Shekhar had a mere 64 MPs, Rajiv Gandhi the leader of the Opposition, agreed to support him on the floor of the House; so he won a confidence motion and was sworn in as Prime Minister.[93] Eight Janata Dal MPs who voted for this motion were disqualified by the speaker Rabi Ray.[94] His government lasted only a few months before he resigned and called for fresh elections.[95]

1. Juliet Reynolds, an art critic and a close friend of Singh, made a short documentary on him, titled The Art of the Impossible (45 minutes long), and covers his political and artistic career.[125]
2. Suma Josson made another film on Singh titled One More Day to Live.[126]
3. Shekhar Gupta, had interview with Singh in the year 2007, titled Walk The Talk with V. P. Singh.[127]

1. Shourie, Arun (1991). The State as Charade: V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar & the Rest. University of California: Roli Books. ISBN 9788190019910. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007.
2. Gujral, Inder Kumar (2011). Matters of Discretion: An Autobiography. Penguin Books Publication. ISBN 978-93-8048-080-0. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017.
3. Upender, P. (1994). Gatham Swagatham.
4. Ramaswami, Venkatraman (1994). My Presidential Years. University of Michigan: HarperCollins Publishers India. ISBN 81-7223-202-0.

Janata Dal, party of Singh.