Updated November 6, 2022
Kalyan Singh Biography
Date of Birth: January 5, 1932
Place of Birth: Atrauli, United Provinces, British India (present-day Uttar Pradesh)
Date of Death: 21 August 2021 (aged 89)
Place of Death: Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Political Party: Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse: Ramwati Devi (1952–2021)
Children: 2 (including Rajveer Singh)
Awards: Padma Vibhushan in 2021 (posthumous)
Who was Kalyan Singh?
Kalyan Singh was an Indian politician and a member of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). He held both the positions of MP and CM of Uttar Pradesh twice.
Singh presided as Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister during the Babri Masjid’s destruction in December 1992. He was considered an icon of Hindu nationalism and the movement to have a Ram temple built in Ayodhya.
Kalyan Singh was born on January 5, 1932, in the Aligarh district in the United Provinces (Present-day Uttar Pradesh). He was born into a family that belonged to the Lodhi community, a community of agriculturalists.
Singh joined the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh while he was still in school. Both his son Rajveer Singh and grandson Sandeep Singh are elected politicians and Bharatiya Janata Party members.
Political Career of Kalyan Singh
For the first time, Singh competed as a candidate for the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) in the 1967 elections for the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly from the Atrauli assembly constituency. Singh defeated his Indian National Congress (INC) rival by 4351 votes.
From the same constituency, Singh competed in the following ten legislative assembly elections: 1969, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1996, and 2002. With the exception of the 1980s election, he won all out of 10.
As a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the BJP, the Janata Party, and the Rashtriya Kranti Party, he won nine further elections in that district. He was appointed BJP leader in the Uttar Pradesh legislature in 1989.
In support of their campaign to have a Hindu temple constructed over the Babri Masjid in the city of Ayodhya, the BJP and its Hindu-nationalist supporters organized the Ram Rath Yatra in late 1990.
The yatra grew into a sizable public movement which results in significant communal violence and divisiveness.
In the parliamentary and legislative elections of 1991, the BJP achieved significant gains and was able to create a government in Uttar Pradesh, with Kalyan Singh becoming the state’s first Chief Minister in June 1991. But he resigned after the Babri Masjid was destroyed.
He was elected Chief Minister for a second term in 1997, but after being ousted by his party in 1999, he formed his own party and quit the BJP.
In 2004, Singh rejoined the BJP and won a seat in the House of Representatives for Bulandshahar. He split from the BJP for the second time in 2009, and he contested successfully as an independent from Etah in the general election of India.
In 2014, he re-joined the BJP and was elected governor of Rajasthan. He completed a five-year term before returning to politics in 2019.
How and When did Kalyan Singh Die?
He was brought to trial in September 2019 for conspiring to destroy the Babri Masjid. In 2020, a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation found him innocent accused.
On July 3, 2021, Singh became unwell after he reported feeling sick and having trouble breathing.
When he was brought to the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, the medical staff thought he might have kidney problems.
Later, his blood pressure severely increased, and for better care and management, he was sent to the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI).
He was receiving ventilator support.
Yogi Adityanath, the current chief minister, BJP President J. P. Nadda and Governor of Uttar Pradesh Anandiben Patel all paid a visit to Singh at the hospital.
On August 21, 2021, at the SGPGI, Singh passed away at the age of 89 from sepsis and multiple organ failures.
In January 2022, he received the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian honour in India, posthumously.
Most Frequently Asked Questions
Ans: Ramwati Devi
Ans: Rajveer Singh, who is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.