Bhairon Singh Shekhawat: "Vice President"

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
BJP stalwart Bhairon Singh Shekhawat sworn in as the country's 12th Vice-President on August 19 2002. The oath of office was administered by President APJ Abdul Kalam at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Among the dignitaries present at the ceremony were Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, former prime ministers I K Gujral, P V Narasimha Rao, leader of the Opposition, Sonia Gandhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Fifty years after he won his first Assembly election in 1952, Shekhawat was relinquishing politics to contest a constitutional position. "I do have a sense of regret that I will no longer be in active politics," he said that day. "I am treading a different path with which I am not acquainted. But this new road also has its own attractions and challenges."
Shekhawat was born on October 23, 1923, in an obscure village in Sikar district of Rajasthan. Poverty forced him to quit his education before completing high school, following which he found a job as a police constable. An RSS functionary from a young age, he quit his job to plunge into the fray in the first Assembly elections in 1952 as a Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) candidate. The party performed poorly in states like Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, where it had strong units and had expected to do well, but in Rajasthan it won a surprising nine seats, Shekhawat's among them.
But soon the Rajasthan unit was on the verge of falling apart. Six of the nine elected were big zamindars, who had joined the party primarily to protect their landed interests. Yet when the Congress government brought the Zamindari Abolition Bill, BJS chief Shyama Prasad Mookerjee insisted his party should support it. But these MLAs opposed the bill and were expelled. Shekhawat, despite his caste affiliation with the zamindars, stayed with the party, and after their departure rebuilt it, practically from scratch.

Indeed Shekhawat's uniqueness lies in the fact that he has frequently taken positions far more progressive than expected of his party. He unequivocally condemned the Sati at Deorala in 1982, at a time when few politicians in the state were willing to speak out against it. He has firmly identified himself with the liberal Mookerjee-Vajpayee stream within the party and is dismissive of hardliners and ideologues. During his chief ministerial stints he took several steps to draw Muslims towards his party. He was the first chief minister to set up a State Waqf Authority. He got the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer renovated at considerable government costs, and established the Rajasthan State Urdu Academy. "A government is responsible to all sections of its people, not just those who have voted for it," he stated clearly.
In 1977, the Janata Party government launched the Antodaya or Food for Work programme countrywide. Under Shekhawat's leadership Rajasthan led the country in implementing the programme, to an extent that its excellence was remarked upon by Robert McNamara, then president of the World Bank. As chief minister he was also much liked by the state bureaucracy, for he never effected mass transfers on taking over and never sought to label officers as party fellow travellers. One particular IAS officer, said to be extremely close to outgoing Congress chief minister Mohanlal Sukhadia in 1977, was not only retained by Shekhawat in the same position when he took over, but became one of his closest aides as years went by.

But Shekhawat's vice-presidential tenure has begun on a mildly sour note. He is miffed at being deprived of the presidentship of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), a position the country's Vice-President normally holds. But in a startling departure from tradition, Najma Heptullah was named ICSSR chief, days before Shekhawat was elected. Doubly galling is the knowledge that his close friend Prime Minister Vajpayee is responsible for the move, as well as the insinuation among BJP men that the post was not given to Shekhawat because "he knows nothing about art and culture".
Though his victory was assured, Shekhawat took no chances. He camped in the capital's Rajasthan House (with children, grandchildren and aides) throughout, paying daily visits to Parliament, lobbying intensively with MPs for his election. "People have been showing me great affection," he maintained, as he consistently targeted individual opposition MPs too. "Politics is all about making friends, not enemies, even though one may differ strongly on issues." Indeed, Shekhawat numbers Chandrasekhar, Sharad Pawar and Amar Singh among his close friends, he was even local guardian to two of Laloo Prasad Yadav's daughters when they studied in Ajmer!
The result of the election reiterated his overweening popularity. Even counting the support of the AIADMK and several independents, his NDA election managers had expected Shekhawat to win by about 110 votes at best in an electoral college of 788 members (comprising both houses of Parliament). But he ended up 149 votes ahead of his rival Shinde. Who were the opposition members who cross-voted for Shekhawat? No one will ever conclusively know. Some speculate that Shekhawat played the caste card-drawing Thakur support from across the political spectrum. "I don't think so," said BJP treasurer Ramdas Agarwal. "His network goes well beyond caste. He is a master at managing elections."

This mastery has been evident time and again. Three times Shekhawat led his party to victory in Rajasthan-first as Janata Dal chief in 1978, later as BJP chief in 1990 and end-1993. All three times he became chief minister of Rajasthan. Ironically, despite resounding victories the first two times, he was unable to complete his term: in 1980, Indira Gandhi, returning to power at the Centre, dismissed his government; in 1992, he was again dismissed after the demolition of the Babri Masjid. In end-1993, on the other hand, the BJP failed to get a majority, but Shekhawat used his manipulative tactics to engineer a majority, and this government ran its full term!

Date of Birth :	23-10-1923
Birth Place :	Khachariyawas
Father's name :	Sh.Devi Singh
Mother's name :	Smt.Banna Kanwar
Husband/Wife's name:	Smt. Suraj Kanwar
Sons :
Daughters :	1
Educl. Qualification :	Hr.Secondary
Party :	BJP
Party Classification :	National
Caste :	General
Experience :
Lok Sabha
Vidhan Sabha	Jan Sangh –1952-Data Ramgarh   Jan Sangh– 1957 –Siri Madhopur   Jan Sangh – 1962 – Kishan Pol   Jan Sangh – 1967 – Kishan Pol   JP -1977 – Chabda   BJP 1980-Chabda   BJP 1985 – Nimbadha   BJP 1990 – Dholpur   BJP 1993 – Bali
Municipal Corporations :	-
Experience as a Minister :	1977-1980 Chief Minister  1990-92 Chief Minister   1993-1998 Chief Minister
Overseas Tour :	USA and Europe
Interests :	Social Service
Income Source :	Agriculture
Postal Address :	8, Civil Lines, Jaipur. Pin Code 302006