Ajit Singh, founder of the Rashtriya Lok Dal and minister of agriculture, aviation and industry at various times at the Centre, passed away at the age of 82 years from COVID-19 complications.
Singh had tested positive on April 20 and was admitted to a hospital in Gurugram. His lungs had been extensively damaged.
Announcing his demise on Twitter, his son Jayant wrote: ‘Chaudhary sahib is no more…Throughout his life journey (he)…was loved and respected by many. He in turn cherished the bond with all of you and gave his best consideration and efforts for your welfare…It is our humble request to all those who wish to pay their respects, to please stay at home as far as possible…This would be the best way to honour Chaudhary Sahib as well as all those COVID warriors who are working night and day to protect us’.
So great was the identification of Singh with his honorific title of Chaudhary, that in north India’s politics it was understood who ‘Chaudhary sahib’ was- just like it was for his father Chaudhary Charan Singh- the sixth prime minister of India.
Born in 1939 in Bhadola in Meerut, Singh was an alumnus of the Lucknow University, the Indian Institute of Technology - Kharagpur and the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago (USA). On his Lok Sabha profile, he listed ‘computer engineer’ as his profession. He had worked in the USA, in the computer industry for 15 years before joining politics.
Singh was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1986, then to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989. He went on to serve five more Lok Sabha terms- the last starting in 2004. In December 1989, he was appointed minister of industries- a post he held for about a year. From 1995-96, he was union minister of food, from 2001-2003, union minister of agriculture and in 2011, minister for aviation.
A widely travelled politician, Singh took pleasure in reading and music.
In September 2013, the communal violence in his home district of Meerut (and Baghpat and Muzzfarnagar) had left Singh deeply disturbed. He had taken on both the Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for instigating it. He said that he would bear responsibility for those who had fled their homes after the violence, even as the state’s police had stopped him from entering Meerut and taken him into custody.
He lost his last Lok Sabha election in 2019.
In the recently concluded panchayat elections in the state, his party had allied with the SP (though the elections are not on party symbols) and put in a decent performance.
The RLD’s political clout had been on the wane since 2014, but Singh had never stopped allying with farmers. In the recent farmers protest, he had called upon them to be wary of mischievous elements who would try to turn their movement violent.
He was an open critic of the BJP, saying that the party (and specifically Narendra Modi) had to lose if the Constitution and the democracy were to be saved.
However, the years and the bold wins of the BJP had visibly disappointed and fatigued Singh. In his last election from Muzaffarnagar he had told this reporter, “I must set right what has been destroyed”.
But in the early hours of May 6, Singh lost the opportunity to do so.
