Chaudhary Ranbir Singh Hooda, who was minister in Punjab & Haryana and went to jail 5 times
ThePrint Profile

Chaudhary Ranbir Singh Hooda, who was minister in Punjab & Haryana and went to jail 5 times

On his 10th death anniversary, ThePrint takes a look at the stalwart who served as a minister in both Punjab and Haryana.

   
Chaudhary Ranbir Singh Hooda | Commons

Chaudhary Ranbir Singh Hooda | Commons

On his 10th death anniversary, ThePrint takes a look at the stalwart who served as a minister in both Punjab and Haryana.

A freedom fighter who went to jail five times, the sole surviving member of the Constituent Assembly of India until 10 years ago and a national record-holder of the maximum number of legislative portfolios, that is Chaudhary Ranbir Singh Hooda.

Hooda has also served as a minister in both Punjab and Haryana.

In November 2014, Hooda’s 100 birth anniversary was celebrated with prominent Congress leaders, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, ex-Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former President Pranab Mukherjee present. The latter lauded Hooda as a distinguished parliamentarian.

“I always found him present in Parliament and he used to listen to other members carefully. This is the first sign of being a good Parliamentarian,” said Mukherjee.

“Chaudhary Ranbir Singh’s life was full of sacrifices,” Singh said. “At the age of 14, he went to the Congress Convention and was inspired to take part in the freedom struggle. In the Constituent Assembly he safeguarded the interests of the farmers and supported their cause on the Minimum Support Price issue.”

On the leader’s second death anniversary in 2011, the Department of Posts released a commemorative stamp in his remembrance.

ThePrint looks at Chaudhary Ranbir Singh Hooda on his 10th death anniversary.


Also read: Remembering C. Rajagopalachari, independent India’s first and last Indian Governor General


Work contributions from a young age

Hooda was born 26 November 1914 in Haryana’s Rohtak district. His father Chaudhary Matu Ram was a local leader.

He completed his graduation from Delhi’s Ramjas College in the late 1930s. Influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, he joined the freedom struggle and later the Congress in 1941.

Hooda was imprisoned on many occasions during the 1940s for his role in the independence movement. His son, and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda recalled at his birth centenary celebrations that Ranbir Singh had been in eight different jails, four in India, four in Pakistan, although he was arrested five times.

Role in Constituent Assembly

Hooda played an instrumental role in the Constituent Assembly after he was elected to it in 1947 from East Punjab.

He participated in debates on several key issues including reservations, minimum support price of grains for farmers, tax burdens on peasants, as well as the issue of the merger of Delhi with East Punjab.

His Constituent Assembly speeches form part of a book, Making of our Constitution: Speeches of Ch. Ranbir Singh in the Constituent Assembly of India (2009), launched when his son was Haryana chief minister.

In the book’s foreword, his son recalls Ranbir Singh’s life-long mission: “The neglected village, the poor peasant, and the toiling marginalized millions, were the real objects of his concern…”

Work as a political leader

Ranbir Singh was successfully elected to the Lok Sabha in the first two general elections i.e. in 1952 and 1957. He was elected to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in 1962, Haryana Vidhan Sabha in 1966 and Rajya Sabha in 1972.

His name entered into the Limca Book of Records for serving in seven different legislative bodies — Constituent Assembly, Constituent Legislative Assembly, Provisional Parliament, Punjab and Haryana state assemblies, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Although he never became chief minister like his son Bhupinder, he held several cabinet positions, including minister of power and irrigation in Punjab 1962 and minister for public works department in Haryana in 1966. He was also the president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee between 1977 and 1980.

He decided to quit politics after his term ended in the Rajya Sabha in 1978.


Also read: Remembering WC Bonnerjee, the first president of Indian National Congress


Social commitment

In their book Freedom Struggle in Haryana and Chaudhary Ranbir Singh, B.D. Yadav and Gian Singh wrote, “Chaudhry Ranbir Singh and his father Chaudhry Matu Ram believed that education was the only way for social transformation and political awakening of the people.”

Hooda founded a high school in Rohtak’s Kharkhauda area in 1946 and during his first term as the Lok Sabha MP helped set up a Government Medical College and Hospital in his hometown in 1956.

Ranbir Singh and his family are followers of the Arya Samaj movement. He believed in a secular state, a classless society.

At the time of his death on 1 February, 2009, at 95, Hooda was the last remaining member of Constituent Assembly.