Ram Sundar Das

Ram Sundar Das (Hindi: राम सुन्दर दास; 9 January 1921 – 6 March 2015) was an Indian politician and a former Chief Minister of Bihar state and a two-time parliamentarian from Hajipur constituency. In his political career, he was associated with a number of different parties including Praja Socialist Party, Janata Party, Janata Dal and Janata Dal (United)

Ram Sundar Das
15th Chief Minister of Bihar
In office 21 April 1979 – 17 February 1980
Preceded by	Karpuri Thakur
Succeeded by	Jagannath Mishra
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 2009–2014
Preceded by	Ram Vilas Paswan
Succeeded by	Ram Vilas Paswan
In office 1991–1996
Preceded by	Ram Vilas Paswan
Succeeded by	Ram Vilas Paswan
Constituency	Hajipur, Bihar
Personal details
Born	(1921-01-09)9 January 1921 Gangajal, Saran district, Bihar, British India
Died	6 March 2015(2015-03-06) (aged 94) Patna, India
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Janata Dal (United)
Other political affiliations	Janata Dal , Janata Party
Spouse(s)	Savita Devi
Children	2 Sons and 1 daughter
Occupation	Politician
As of 6 March, 2015 Source:

Early life and family

Das was born on 9 January 1921 into Chamar caste in Gangajal near Sonpur, Saran District in Bihar.[1] He matriculated from a school in Sonpur and attended Vidyasagar College in Calcutta. He dropped out of college to join the Indian freedom movement. He married Savita Devi in 1956 and had three children - two sons and one daughter. His distant granddaughter is currently studying in Chanakya National Law University, one of premier law University of Bihar.[2]

Political Career

Das served as a functionary in Congress Socialist Party in his native Sonpur. The Congress Socialist Party, through a series of mergers became a part of the Praja Socialist Party (PSP). Das served as member of PSP's Bihar Provincial Executive Council. In 1968, he was elected as a Member of Bihar's legislative council and continued in this role until 1977.[2]

In the 1977 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, that led to a decisive defeat of the ruling Indian National Congress at the hands of Janata party, Das was elected as the MLA for Sonpur. Janata Party was a recent amalgam of disparate groups including Indian National Congress (Organisation), Charan Singh's Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD), Socialists and Hindu Nationalists of Jana Sangh. The sole purpose of these groups joining together was to defeat Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who had imposed a nationwide emergency and curtailed many freedoms. There were also social cleavages with Socialists and BLD representing backward castes and Congress(O) and Jana Sangh the upper castes. [2][3]

Infighting in the party broke over the question of Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur's decision to implement the Mungeri Lal Commission report, that recommended the institution of reservations for Backward Castes in government jobs. Upper caste members of Janata Party tried to water down the reservation policy by unseating Thakur as Chief Minister. To wean away Dalit MLAs, Das, a Dalit himself, was nominated as the candidate. Though both Das and Thakur were both Socialist, Das was considered more moderate and accommodative than the Chief Minister. Thakur resigned and Das became the Chief Minister of Bihar on 21 April 1979. The reservation law was weakened by allowing upper castes to obtain a greater percentage of government jobs.The internal tensions in Janata Party caused it to split into multiple factions which led to Congress to return to power in 1980. [3][4]

In the late 1980s, some of the remnants of Janata Party had come together to form Janata Dal, which formed a coalition government at the national level following the 1989 Indian general election. In 1990 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Janata Dal won the largest number of seats and sought to form government with the outside support of BJP and Communists. Das was a contender for Chief Ministership pitted against Raghunath Jha and Lalu Prasad Yadav. Yadav was supported by Devi Lal and Nitish Kumar, Jha by Chandra Shekhar and Das by Prime Minister VP Singh. Yadav had compaigned heavily in favour of implementing Mandal Commission, which sought to reserve government jobs for backward castes in Central Government jobs. Das was less keen on this. VP Singh's support of Das was interpreted as a lack of enthusiasm for this form of social engineering. Nitish Kumar rallied backward caste MLAs towards Yadav. In the election, Yadav won narrowly over Das by a vote of 59 to 56. Jha won 12, mostly upper caste MLAs.[3]

He was elected to the 10th Lok Sabha from Hajipur constituency in Bihar in 1991. He was re-elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from the same constituency in 2009. He served as the leader of the Janata Dal (United) Parliamentary Party. He contested from Hajipur again in 2014 general election when in his 90s, but Ram Vilas Paswan won the seat taking advantage of the Narendra Modi - BJP wave.[2]

He died on 6 March 2015 at the age of 94. He is survived by two sons and one daughter.[5]

References

1. Farz; May 15, Ahmed; May 15, 1996 ISSUE DATE:; May 31, 1996UPDATED:; Ist, 2013 11:58. "Elections 1996: Ram Vilas Paswan may find the going tough this time". India Today. Retrieved 5 June 2020.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
2. "Members Bioprofile". Parliament of India. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
3. Sanjay Kumar (2018). Post-Mandal Politics in Bihar: Changing Electoral Patterns. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9789352805860.
4. "State mourns death of ex-CM on festival day". Daily Telegraph. 7 March 2015.
5. "Former Bihar Chief Minister Ram Sundar Das passes away". The Economics Times. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.

External links

• Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website
• Chhote Saheb was a leader of the masses-former Bihar CM Ram Sundar Das

Lok Sabha
Preceded by Ram Vilas Paswan	Member of Parliament for Hajipur 1991–1996	Succeeded by Ram Vilas Paswan
Preceded by Ram Vilas Paswan	Member of Parliament for Hajipur 2009–2014	Succeeded by Ram Vilas Paswan
Party political offices
Preceded by	Leader of the Janata Dal (United) Party in the 16th Lok Sabha 2009-2014	Succeeded by Kaushalendra Kumar
Political offices
Preceded by Karpoori Thakur	Chief Minister of Bihar 21 April 1979 – 17 February 1980	Succeeded by President's rule