Kalpnath Rai

Kalpnath Rai was a Rajya Sabha member from 1974–80, 1980–86, 1986–92 and represented Ghosi four times to the Lok Sabha. He was also Minister in various Congress (I) ministries at the centre and was a senior Congress Leader.

Biography

Born on bhumihar parivar 4 January 1941, in Semari Jamalpur village of Mau district UP, Kalpnath Rai is credited of giving Mau the status of a district during his days as an MP from Ghosi.^[1]...his parents died early leaving the orphan to fend for his life at the early age of 8 with his paternal family plotting against him to take his property away....Rai was married early to Late Shri Ram Rati Devi at the age of ten with whom he had 4 daughters and a son After his first wife's death he was married to Sudha Rai with whom he had 1 daughter...it is the in-laws and a neighbour who protected him and spent for his education,food and shelter after which he graduated with a law degree.

Death

He died on 6 August 1999, aged 58. Rai suffered a massive heart attack on Thursday night following which he was admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where he died at 2.45 am. He is survived by his widow, a son and five daughters.^[2]

Political career

During early years, as a Robust student political leader with revolutionary leadership skills in Gorakhpur University,all of 19 years of age he openly challenged Nehru and his policies causing the then Prime minister to order shoot at sight orders against him and fellow students in the infamous Gorakhpur student shootout in 1967 in which Rais' best friend was shot,whose statue still stands tall at Gorakhpur university. The same leadership skills were again displayed by show of no-support to Indira Gandhi when she first came to power, after Rai joined Congress in 1974 at the behest in of Shri H.N Bahuguna and Mrs. Gandhi on the count that Mau (MauNathBhanjan) will be given separate district status from Azamgarh. After the creation of MAU, he intensified development procedures in the district bringing technology,industry,prosperity, trade and modern infrastructure to a part of India which has been known to be one of the most backward and poor in recent times. Also during his tenure as MP, the district was attributed to be very peaceful and with no communal violence even though the whole region of eastern uttar pradesh was and is communally tense.

He was Member of Parliament for a continued tenure of 25 years across party lines and in 1982 he was given 2 portfolios of Parliamentary affairs and Industry minister.His motives were always development-centric and people oriented. His affection for the people and the people's affection for him was shown in his last 2 elections when he was falsely implicated for corruption charges,the people cut across party and religious lines and voted for him to bring him back to power.

In 1993-1994 he was minister of state for food and became controversial due to the sugar scam involving his ministry. He was falsely jailed in connection with the scam but was later acquitted with no charge.

In 1997 he was wrongly sentenced to 10 years in prison with a fine of Rs 1 million by a Terrorist And Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act court in Delhi, he was soon acquitted, with the judge Justice Verma stating that "if my son comes home after committing a murder and sleeps in my house without me knowing then am i responsible for the murder?". He was falsely convicted for the crime of harboring members of the Dawood Ibrahim gang and later acquitted without any charge. According to the CBI chargesheet, Kalpnath Rai, the then Federal Power Minister, had through his assistant S P Rai arranged accommodation for Subhash Thakur and V N Rai (Rai's nephew) at the guest houses of the National Thermal Power Corporation in Delhi and Bombay Suburban Electricity Supply at Mumbai around the time of the shootout at the JJ Hospital. He was soon acquitted after being proven innocent.Dawood's hitmen, who were convicted, were involved in the shootout. The bills for the NTPC rooms were paid by the corporation itself.

A frontrunner from Ghosi, Uttar Pradesh,Kalpanath Rai was an AICC General Secretary in the Indira Gandhi regime and a minister in the Rajiv gandhi and Narasimha Rao government. He was also one of the rare politicians to win a Lok Sabha election independently while in jail for the TADA case in which he was falsely accused.

Kalpanath Rai was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh in 1974 and had two other terms in the same House. He was also elected to the Lok Sabha four times from Ghosi. In the last Lok Sabha, Rai was elected on a Samata Party ticket but he resigned from the party and rejoined the Congress.

Kalpanath Rai began his career in 1963 as general secretary of the Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, UP. Rai, who did his M.A (English and Sociology) and LLB from Gorakhpur University, was a member of the CPP executive committee between 1974–76 and its general secretary in 1978.

Rai's stint as a union minister began in 1982 when he was made a minister of state in the Indira Gandhi government and continued till 1984. From June 1988 to December 1989, he was minister of state for Power and after being elected to the 10th Lok Sabha, he was again made minister of state for Power and non-conventional energy sources with independent charge.

In 1993-1994 he was minister of state for food and became controversial due to the sugar scam involving his ministry. He was jailed in connection with the scam but was later acquitted free of charge.

In Ghosi, Kalpnath Rai was considered one of the most strong leaders. In 1991, he was one of the rare Congressmen who survived the mandal-mandir upheavals that uprooted the party in Uttar Pradesh; in 1996, when imprisoned under TADA, he won as an Independent from jail; in his last election he fought the elections from the Samata Party but still went on to win the elections. Kalpanath Rai had been highly active in the development and promotion of his home town Mau. Meanwhile, Rai is not averse to some theatre. Voice quivering with emotion, he made dramatic promises saying, "Jis maa ka doodh piya hai uski kasam khata hoon (I swear on my mother's milk).".Known for his blunt and colorful language he is famous for warning the then Prime Minister Rao in parliament that he will "strip him of his dhoti" as Rao's son had approached Rai on behalf of the sugar and alcohol lobbyists of India to reduce the price of molasses which would have been beneficial to the farmers of India rather than big business houses.

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