Kalyan Singh: BJP's posterboy for Ram Temple movement

NEW DELHI: BJP veteran and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, who was ailing for some time, died at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in Lucknow on Saturday night. He was 89. Hailing from the Lodh community, Kalyan Singh helped BJP expand its social base among OBCs and weaker sections, especially in Uttar Pradesh. 

His political and administrative decisions also contributed to BJP`s rise in the state after the party first came to power in 1991. The OBC face of the BJP, Singh was also the first BJP Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (from June 1991 to December 1992).

Kalyan Singh served as Chief Minister of UP twice and as a former governor of Rajasthan and also held various organisational posts in the BJP, both in the state and the central level. 

Contribution to Ram Temple movement

The 89-year-old leader was a doyen of the BJP who had played a key role in the Ayodhya movement. He was one of the most prominent leaders of BJP who helped shape its rise in the most populous state of the country. A special CBI court had in September last year acquitted all the accused including Kalyan Singh in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

Kalyan Singh had then welcomed the Supreme Court judgement of November 2019 paving the way for the construction of the grand Ram temple at Ayodhya. "Everyone has welcomed and accepted the Supreme Court decision which is just and legal and all-inclusive. It has put an end to a 500-year-old dispute," he had said.

The veteran BJP leader had also said that the court had done the right thing by entrusting the construction of the Ram temple to a trust. The work on the construction of a grand Ram Temple, for which Kalyan Singh worked all his life, is going on in full swing and the temple is expected to be opened for devotees by end of 2023. 

BJP’s Hindutva posterboy

Articulate and politically suave, Kalyan Singh was the Hindutva face of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh during the Ayodhya movement and resigned in the aftermath of the demolition of Babri masjid in December 1992. His government had submitted an affidavit in the court that it will not permit damage to the mosque.

His government went ahead acquiring 2.27 acres around the disputed site in Ayodhya and building the Ram Chabutra close by. In an interview, Kalyan Singh had said he refused to give orders for firing on Kar Sewaks. The 89-year-old leader was popularly known as `Babuji`. 

RSS leader from the core

Kalyan Singh was associated with the RSS and was also a member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Kalyan Singh twice left the BJP only to return to the party. He left the party for the first time in December 1999 and returned to it in January 2004 before the Lok Sabha elections. He again resigned from the party in January 2009 to form Jan Kranti Party.

Political journey

Born on January 5, 1935, in Aligarh, Kalyan Singh belonged to a family of farmers and was associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) since his early years. Kalyan Singh was first elected to the Uttar Pradesh assembly in 1967 and became a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government for the first time in 1977.

Kalyan Singh became Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister for the first time in 1991 as BJP gained support over its demand for the construction of Ram Temple at the birthplace of Lord Ram in Ayodhya.

Kalyan Singh became chief minister for the second time in 1997 according to a power-sharing agreement between the BJP and the BSP. The BSP withdrew support to the government and he continued as chief minister as a faction of Congress extended support. The government was dismissed in 1998. 

‘Babuji’ for millions of BJP workers

Kalyan Singh, fondly referred to as `Babuji` in the political circles, remained popular among the BJP workers even after he quit the party twice -- once again in 2009. Singh was appointed as the Governor of Rajasthan in 2014.

His elder son Rajvir Singh is an MP while his grandson Sandeep Singh is a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government. Singh retired from his gubernatorial assignment in 2019 and had been leading a quiet, retired life in Lucknow although the steady stream of visitors at his Mall Avenue residence continued unabated. His demise has created a vacuum in UP politics - one that will not be filled soon. For lakhs of party workers, Babuji passing away will remain a personal loss.

(With Agency Inputs)