It is ironical in a way that VP Singh – who hailed from a royal family – always had power within his reach but when he actually laid his hands on it, it drifted away from him. That happened partly because of his fickle-mindedness and partly because of his zeal to take up the cause of the poor and downtrodden. One such example comes from very early period of his life when impressed with Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan Movement, he donated his entire inheritance in land. He had to bear the ire of his family.
He started his political career as a young socialist under Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna but defected to the Congress with Chandra Shekhar. During the Emergency, he supported Indira wholeheartedly. He was made UPCC chief and later Chief Minister of the state. But when the time came to enjoy power, he had a tiff with the PM over the Moradabad riots. Indira blamed the state government. VP thought otherwise. He resigned and announced it through a radio journalist from Allahabad, in true VP style.
He earned the trust of Rajiv Gandhi but took on the latter’s friends, Amitabh Bachchan and Dhirubhai Ambani. Rajiv removed him from the post of Finance Minister. A peeved VP dropped the Bofors bombshell. He switched allegiance once again and was made Prime Minister by Jan Morcha. Here, too, he carried on with his rebellion. He revived the dormant Mandal Commission report and implemented its recommendations. People still remember him for this final act of his, but he was a bigger rebel than he is perceived to be.
He started his political career as a young socialist under Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna but defected to the Congress with Chandra Shekhar. During the Emergency, he supported Indira wholeheartedly. He was made UPCC chief and later Chief Minister of the state. But when the time came to enjoy power, he had a tiff with the PM over the Moradabad riots. Indira blamed the state government. VP thought otherwise. He resigned and announced it through a radio journalist from Allahabad, in true VP style.
He earned the trust of Rajiv Gandhi but took on the latter’s friends, Amitabh Bachchan and Dhirubhai Ambani. Rajiv removed him from the post of Finance Minister. A peeved VP dropped the Bofors bombshell. He switched allegiance once again and was made Prime Minister by Jan Morcha. Here, too, he carried on with his rebellion. He revived the dormant Mandal Commission report and implemented its recommendations. People still remember him for this final act of his, but he was a bigger rebel than he is perceived to be.
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