Remembering Kalyan Singh: 'Mera shav bhi BJP ke jhande me lipat jaye', when he pledged allegiance to saffron party

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, who breathed his last here on Saturday night, headed the first-ever Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh (UP) in 1991 and was the chief minister when the Babri mosque was demolished in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.

Paying tribute to the senior politician, Uttar Pradesh BJP also shared an old clip where Singh is seen pledging his allegiance to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Remembering Kalyan Singh:

Singh, an OBC leader, was a cadre's delight, recalled former minister Rajendra Tiwari, who was UP BJP secretary when Kalyan Singh was the state party chief in 1984.

Soon after becoming chief minister for the first time in 1991, "babuji", as Kalyan was referred to, summoned top police and administrative officials in the Tilak Hall of Lucknow's state secretariat for a purpose.

Born on January 5, 1932, Singh had a key role in BJP's rise in Uttar Pradesh.

Handpicked by the late Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leader Bhaurao Deoras to head the UP BJP unit after the sudden demise of the party's first state chief Madhav Prasad Tripathi, Kalyan soon had a job on his hands – countering the Mandal agitation that the RSS feared would divide Hindus on caste lines.

"Deoras told Kalyan to start holding meetings across the state... I remember the late RSS leader telling Kalyan, attache uthao aur sabhayein karon .. (pack your suitcase and start visiting the state to hold meetings)," recalled Tiwari.

Kalyan did as told and his speeches would invariably refer to the agitation for the Ayodhya Ram temple. It was the period in UP when the Congress was on the decline and the period would witness the rise of two powerful, but ideologically opposite OBC leaders in UP who dominated politics for a long time — Kalyan Singh and Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav.

As luck would have it, for a brief period of 10 months, Kalyan even did the unthinkable — befriending his ideological rival, getting his son to join the SP, attended the party's Agra convention and even wore the SP's 'red cap'. He would regret the decision later.

He left the BJP thrice – twice over differences with party leadership and then in 2014 after being appointed governor of Rajasthan; coming back to the party each time.

He later shifted in the residence allotted to his grandson, a minister in the UP government but in case that was not there he would well be living in a rented apartment in Lucknow. Such was his honesty."

Babri mosque demolition case

Shankar was Kalyan's lawyer in the Babri mosque demolition case. The mosque was demolished with Kalyan as the chief minister on December 6, 1992 and his government was subsequently dismissed.

Among the leaders named in the criminal conspiracy case for the felling of the mosque, Shankar, who was also Kalyan's lawyer, recalled the former chief minister telling him not to dilute his stance on not firing at the kar sewaks.

"Babuji categorically told me that he would stand by the fact that he asked the police officials in writing not to fire at the kar sewaks who had gathered at the Ayodhya site on the demolition day. He said as chief minister he had asked the police to follow the law, but had specifically prohibited them from opening fire," Shankar said.

Years later, Kalyan after being exonerated in the case along with other leaders, would proudly recall, "I never wanted to die with blood of kar sewaks on my hands!"

There are innumerable instances of Kalyan not budging once he had taken a decision, no matter how unpleasant.

In 1998, as a second-term chief minister Kalyan was addressing a public meeting in Amroha when he was informed that his government had been dismissed and Congress leader Jagdambika Pal had been appointed the chief minister.

"Everyone was surprised with the decision of the then governor Romesh Bhandari, who administered the oath of office to Pal at night.

As chief minister, he would be fully updated on developments and wanted his ministers to attend meetings with full details.

"After being sworn in as Rajasthan governor on September 4, 2014, Kalyan, in his first meeting with vice chancellors, had ordered them to adopt villages.

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