Chandra Shekhar - Foray into Politics

Chandra Shekhar was attracted to politics right from his student days and was known as a firebrand leader with revolutionary fervour. Starting from fearlessly advocating for autonomy of student Union, his opposition to increase in fees in the Allahabad University made him popular among the youth. He was well-aware of the problems of the peasants, the landless labourers, the marginalized and the downtrodden sections and above all complexities of the rural life and economy. By the time Chandra Shekhar was out of college i.e., 1949, he had gained much interest in politics. His mentor, Acharya Narendra Deva advised him to join active politics which he readily agreed. He had enrolled for Ph.D. under Prof Mukut Behari Lal at Banaras Hindu University but stopped pursuing his academic ambition. He joined the socialist movement and was elected as the secretary of the District Praja Socialist Party (PSP) in Ballia in 1951. Later till 1962 he held various positions in the PSP in the State i.e., Uttar Pradesh and at the national level. Chandra Shekhar began his Parliamentary career after getting elected to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh on a PSP ticket in 1962. Since then, he was a Member of Parliament, except for the period from 1984 to 1989. He joined Indian National Congress in 1964. In 1967, he was appointed as the General Secretary of the Congress Party in Parliament. He started a weekly titled Young Indian in 1969 from New Delhi to communicate with the masses and to air his views on socio-political issues.

Text Courtesy: Chandra Shekhar in Parliament – A Commemorative Volume

Pictures Courtesy: Google

In the first picture, former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar can be seen with former Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and VP Singh, former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao, veteran BJP leader LK Advani, Choudhary Devi Lal, HN Bahuguna, RK Hegde and others.

In the second photo, Chandra Shekhar is with Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and Subramanian Swamy.

In the third picture, the former Prime Minister can be seen with late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and another former Prime Minister IK Gujral.