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Babulal Gaur (1930-2019): From mill worker to CM, a tall leader in MP’s saffron politics

His health deteriorated in the past few months, and he was admitted at a private hospital for the last few days.

Babulal Gaur dead, Babulal Gaur passes away bhopal, former Madhya Pradesh CM Babulal Gaur Babulal Gaur

“I have always been like this. I enjoy every moment in life and follow in the footsteps of Krishna, who played ras and kept a sudarshan chakra,” former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Babulal Gaur had replied in 2007 when asked about opposition Congress’s move to bring in a breach of privilege motion against him for his comment against then Leader of Opposition Jamuna Devi.

The Congress had called the remarks a double entendre.

Irreverent, down to earth, jovial, and with a penchant for often making double entendre remarks, the BJP leader, who died on Wednesday, often courted controversy but was on a friendly term with most people in his party, as also in the Congress as other opposition parties. He was 89, but was fit till late last year, when he was an MLA — in his tenth term as a legislator, a record nine of them, between 1977 and 2018, from Govindpura constituency in Bhopal.

His health deteriorated in the past few months, and he was admitted at a private hospital for the last few days.

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Starting out as a mill worker and trade union leader, Gaur went on to be the Madhya Pradesh chief minister for more than a year. He became CM by sheer accident in 2004, in the wake of then CM Uma Bharati’s resignation, but was ostensibly not very keen to quit when the BJP asked him to vacate the chair a year later.

He soon reconciled to the party’s decision and agreed to work under Shivraj Singh Chouhan, younger to him by nearly three decades.

Festive offer

Chouhan, who cut his political teeth by campaigning for Gaur, was still a student leader when the latter successfully contested his first Assembly election in 1974 as an Independent from Bhopal (South).

Born on June 2, 1930, in Uttar Pradesh, a young Gaur came to Bhopal with his father Ramprasad Yadav. In Bhopal, he reportedly ran his father’s liquor shop for some time before closing it down. He once claimed his surname changed from Yadav to Gaur at a teacher’s instance.

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He joined the RSS early on and was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the Sangh’s trade union wing. He first became a minister in the Sunderlal Patwa government between 1990 and 1992, and earned the sobriquet of a “bulldozer man” for his relentless anti-encroachment drives.

While he had reconciled to his demotion from the CM’s post to that of a minister, Gaur turned bitter when the state leadership asked him to resign as a minister in 2016 citing the 75-year age formula.

Weeks ahead of the Assembly elections in 2018, he threatened to contest as an Independent if the party did not field him or his daughter-in-law Krishna Gaur, a former Bhopal mayor, from Govindpura constituency. There were reportedly many claimants for Govindpura but the party eventually gave the ticket to Krishna Gaur — she won comfortably against her nearest Congress candidate.

At a book launch before the polls last year, Gaur had praised Chhindwara model, crediting Congress leader, and present Chief Minister, Kamal Nath for ushering in all-round development of his Parliamentary constituency.

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One more septuagenarian minister was also asked to quit. However, Amit Shah later claimed that the party did not follow such formula. In the last couple of years of his term, he often asked embarrassing questions in the Assembly when the BJP was in power.

Paying condolences to Gaur’s family and supporters, the Prime Minister tweeted, “Babulal Gaur Ji served people for decades. From Jana Sangh days, he worked constantly to strengthen our Party. As Minister and CM of Madhya Pradesh he undertook many efforts to transform the state. Saddened by his demise.”

Recalling the times the senior BJP leader would come to him when he was a Union minister, CM Kamal Nath said, “He was straightforward and always spoke his mind. He often went against his party line.”

First uploaded on: 22-08-2019 at 01:29 IST
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