Seventh Governor of Andhra Pradesh

Early Life and Education

Mohan Lal Sukhadia (31 July 1916 – 2 February 1982) was an Indian politician, who served as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan state for 17 years (1954–1971). He became chief minister at age 38 and was responsible for bringing major reforms and developments in Rajasthan. For this, he is still widely revered as the "founder of modern Rajasthan".

Later in his career, Sukhadia also served as the Governor of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Mohan Lal Sukhadia was born in a Jain family of Jhalawar, Rajasthan. His father, Purshottam Lal Sukhadia, was a well known cricketer of the Bombay and Saurashtra teams. After completing primary education in Nathdwara and Udaipur, Sukhadia went to Mumbai for a diploma in electrical engineering from VJTI. There, he was elected General Secretary of the student body. Mr. Berley, the British principal of the college, wanted to invite governor of Bombay in a college ceremony.

Sukhadia, along with other students, vehemently opposed the idea and asserted to invite then Chief Minister of Bombay B. G. Kher instead. Finally, college authorities had to bow down against the demands of students. Sukhadia had successfully led his first revolt against British Rule exemplifying his uncanny leadership abilities and managerial skills.

In college, he came in contact with prominent national leaders like Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Yusuf Meherally and Ashok Mehta. Sukhadia regularly attended meetings of Congress workers and volunteers headed by Patel in Mumbai. When he came back to Nathdwara, he started a small Electrical workshop. This shop was essentially a meeting place where Sukhadia and his friends would discuss about the ubiquitous autocracies of British rule and socio-economic reforms in the region. Various education and social awareness programs were schemed and executed in the region by Sukhadia and his fellow workers.

He married Indubala on 1 June 1938 in Beawar. This inter-caste marriage was not an ordinary event in those days. Expecting a stiff backlash in Nathdwara and Udaipur, Sukhadia decided to perform the ceremony in Beawar adhering to customs of the Arya Samaj. When he returned to Nathdwara with Indubala, he was hailed by a large number of his supporters. Young overjoyed supporters thronged the streets of Nathwara, steered a huge rally across the town and greeted him with slogans, "Mohan Bhaiya Jindabad". This remained to be one of the most memorable and inspiring moments of his life. Sukhadia himself acknowledged this fact to one his protagonists few days before his death.

Contribution in freedom struggle

On account of excessive taxes and autocratic rule of princes and jagirdars, Praja Mandals were formed in different states of Rajputana. These mandals provided wider base to the agitation and direction to the civil right movement and administrative reforms in various princely states. In Udaipur state, Mewar Praja Mandal was founded in 1938 having renowned social activist and freedom fighter Manikya Lal Verma as its president. After one year of foundation, Mandal received a dose of fresh vigor with promising youth Mohal Lal Sukhadia joining it.

Freedom struggle in Rajasthan was facing twofold and threefold resistance in form of British raj, princely states and local zamindars. Sukhadia along with other activists traveled across remote tribal areas and villages of the region, established direct contact with local peasants and tribesmen, edified them about their constitutional rights and encouraged to espouse the national movement.

Fearing the torment of their zamindars, most of the locals were reluctant to shelter national activists in their houses. Public workers were not allowed to enter Bhil villages as zamindars considered contact of activists with simple-minded peasants undesirable. Often they were beaten and arrested by police for entering Bhil villages. In 1946, Praja Mandals of various states merged to form a state-wide organization and named it Rajputana Prantiya Sabha. Sukhadia was inducted in Executive Committee of this newly formed organization.

Party meetings were held in one of the Rajputana provinces in every two-three months where representatives of different provinces discussed and debated on common problems of the states. Sukhadia’s matter-of-fact and efficient problem solving tactics were valued highly in these meetings that earned him recognition of top leaders in the state. Responding to Mahatma Gandhi’s call of "Quit India" in 1942, entire Rajasthan plunged into Quit India Movement with leaders like Manikya Lal Verma, Heera Lal Shastri, Gokulbhai Bhatt, Jai Narayan Vyas and Mohanlal Sukhadia playing instrumental role in channelizing it.

Seeing the situation go beyond control, British Government decided to contain top leadership by incarcerating them. Sukhadia stayed in jail for one and half years at the age of 25. Intense torrential rainfall of 1943 devastated Bhilwara and nearby areas causing huge destruction of property and life. Sukhadia mobilized relief workers and arranged food supply, medicines and clothing for the people.

Independence and participation in government

On 15 August 1947, 22 big and small princely states of Rajasthan (erstwhile Rajputana) agreed to join the Union of India. Their merger and unification took place in a phased manner over a period of 2 years. In the first phase, four Princely States of Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karauli formed the Matsya Union. On 25 March 1948, Union of Rajasthan was formed comprising Banswara, Bundi, Dungarpur, Jhalawar, Kishangarh, Pratapgarh, Shahapura, Tonk, and Kota.

Three days after formation of Union of Rajasthan, Maharana of Udaipur decided to join Union of Rajasthan on 28 March 1948. It was formally inaugurated by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru on 18 April 1948 and cabinet was formed under the leadership of Manikya Lal Verma. Mohan Lal Sukhadia joined the cabinet as Irrigation and Labor Minister. In the fourth phase, states of Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jaipur and Jodhpur merged with Union of Rajasthan.

Sardar Patel inaugurated unified Rajasthan on 30 March 1949 and Heera Lal Shastri formed the cabinet to become first Chief Minister of Rajasthan.On 15 May 1949, Matsya Union also merged with Rajasthan. After Heera Lal Shasrti resigned from the post on 26 March 1951, Jai Narayan Vyas took over his post.

Sukhadia was appointed as minister in newly created cabinet. First state Legislative elections of Rajasthan were held in 1952. Tika Ram Paliwal became Chief Minister on 3 March 1952 for a brief period of time. Jai Narayan Vyas replaced him on 1 November 1952. Sukhadia handled Revenue, Irrigation, Agriculture and other significant portfolios during this period.

After elections in 1952, 22 members of Ram Rajya Parishad joined Congress Party on persuasion of Jai Narayan Vyas. However, congress workers objected to his decision as most of the Ram Rajya Parishad members were former zamindars and believed this would affect ongoing land reforms in the state.

Amidst growing resentment against Jai Narayan Vyas, Congress High command directed him to seek Vote of Confidence of Congress legislative members. Veteran Jai Narayan Vyas was directly pitched against the 38 year-old Revenue Minister of his own cabinet, Shri Mohan Lal Sukhadia.

First time in history of Democratic India, two people were openly contesting for post of Chief Minister. Sukhadia defeated him by 8 votes to become youngest Chief Minister of India. He continued on this post for record making 17 years(13 Nov 1954 – 8 Jul 1971). His record of longest-serving Chief Minister in Indian political history was untouched until Jyoti Basu surpassed it in 1994