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The Times of India

National

Anand Bodh | TNN

‘Raja Sahib’ Of Himachal Pradesh Politics

SHIMLA: After 60 years of ruling the Himachal Pradesh politics and remaining ‘Raja Sahib’ in people’s hearts for decades beyond the last princely estates, Virbhadra Singh goes at 87. As oldest candidate of the 2017 assembly elections at 83, the six-time chief minister had won Solan district’s Arki seat for the Congress.

After twice defeating Covid-19 with his characteristic grit and determination, his resistance ended on Thursday at 3.40am, in Shimla’s Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital. But his critics had written his political obituary before the 2012 assembly elections, when corruption charges had forced him to resign from the Union cabinet. Yet, he not only became the state Congress president but also took CM’s oath for the sixth term on Christmas that year. Every time they wrote him off, he resurrected.

Despite a rollercoaster last term as CM, his support was too strong for the opponents to shake him off. In 2017, when the rivals were mocking at his old age, Rahul Gandhi declared him CM candidate. Corruption charges didn’t diminish the respect of the Virbhadra family. From bureaucracy to politics, he had loyalists everywhere. Judge his clout by the fact that the Congress wanted him to lead even its 2022 campaign. He could have been CM a seventh time, had age and health been on his side.

Hostile spell versus cricketer rival

As CM in 2012, Virbhadra targeted his archrival and BJP’s former CM, Prem Kumar Dhumal, by ordering investigation against the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) led by Dhumal’s son, MP Anurag Thakur, besides the Dhumal family’s properties. The opposition alleged that Virbhadra encouraged regional divide between upper and lower Himachal Pradesh but couldn’t prove it.

Raja at 13, history student later

Virbhadra Singh was born in a royal family, on June 23,1934, at Sarahan in Shimla district, then part of the Bushahr princely estate. At 13, Virbhadra Singh succeeded as its123rd ruler on November 13, 1947, upon the death of his father, Raja (Sir) Padam Singh. On October 4,1948, Virbhadra received a nine-canon salute accorded to only a few princes. Schooled at Dehradun’s Colonel Browns Cambridge and Shimla’s Bishop Cotton, he later did BA (honours) from St Stephen's College in Delhi and MA (history) from Delhi University.

His two marriages, his five children

Virbhadra had a son and four daughters from his two marriages. He first married Rani Rattan Kumari, daughter of Rana Digvijay Chand and Rani Hemant Kanwar of Jubbal, on May 28, 1954, and they had three daughters: Abhilasha Kumari, Jyotsna Kumari, and Meenakshi Kumari. Rattan Kumari died in Shimla on September 27, 1983. Virbhadra then married Rani Pratibha Singh, daughter of Raja Hitendra Sen and Rani Shanta Devi of Keonthal, on November 28,1985. They had two children: Vikramaditya Singh and Aprajita Kumari.

The human touch that made him people’s man

Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote in her condolence message to his wife that: “He had his ears to the ground and his finger on people’s pulse. But more than that, he had a heart that throbbed for his people.” He was the first CM to run a 'Khula Darbar' (open court), where he met the common people at his house in the morning before starting off for office. Knowing the limitations of government functioning and protocol, he would go out of the way, sometimes, to help the needy. Once addressing a rally in Rampur, he spotted a boy’s falling over an old woman in tatters. After the event, he rang up the area sub-divisional magistrate to locate the woman and buy her new clothes, and not to forget to send him the bill. Once, a poor heart patient needed Rs 4.5 lakh for surgery when the government aid limit was only Rs 1.5 lakh. Reading about her plight in a newspaper, he got her the money through other schemes.

The prince and the driver uncle

Journalists knew about his super memory and his respect for all. He’d never forgot a name, or the work entrusted to someone. The bureaucrats were often at the receiving end for taking his verbal orders for granted, and he knew how to catch them off guard. Once in his reluctance to go to school, his son had banged the gate. Virbhadra came out and chided him: “Did you wish driver uncle?” and sent him off to school with a flying kiss.

Undisputed king of Himachal Congress

Virbhadra was in national politics for 21 years. His journey to being the tallest leader of Himachal Pradesh started in 1983 with taking oath as CM. He built bridges, roads, hospitals, schools, and colleges in the remote hills. The first term ended on March 11, 1985, and no Congressman could challenge his leadership since. Those who did either vanished from state politics or had to join hands with him. Former Union minister Sukh Ram is prime example, who first left the party to form own Himachal Vikas Congress in 1998, but later merged into the Congress. Their rivalry resumed before the 2017 assembly elections. Even at 87, Virbhadra was the CM face of his party for 2022. On October 7, 2017, the Congress held a rally in Sukh Ram’s hometown, Mandi, and kept him out of it. Taking it as an insult, Sukh Ram and his son, Anil Sharma, a minister in the Virbhadra government, joined the BJP.

In the 2017 assembly polls, Kaul Singh Thakur and G S Bali were probables to replace Virbhadra but they failed to match his mass appeal. Rahul Gandhi went with the old bet. Virbhadra reputation Singh as "messiah of the poor" increased over the years, as he’d not let anyone return empty-handed from his doors.

When CBI gate-crashed his daughter’s wedding party

In his first term as CM, Virbhadra Singh had enacted the Lokayukta Act, 1983, to fight corruption and brought his own post under its ambit. In 2012, corruption allegations forced him to quit the central cabinet. He was CM on September 26, 2015, when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided his private residence, Holly Lodge, in the middle of his daughter’s wedding.

The disproportionate assets case dates to the time when he was Union minister for steel in the UPA government and his revised income tax returns for the year 2009-11 showed a steep rise in income from apple orchards. The family’s life insurance policies were also under the microscope. Even after the raids, Virbhadra Singh continued as CM, since most of the legislator were with him and the action’s timing suggested political vendetta.