Kalyan Singh

Kalyan Singh
Singh in September 2014
21st Governor of Rajasthan
In office
4 September 2014 – 8 September 2019
Preceded byMargaret Alva
Succeeded byKalraj Mishra
Governor of Himachal Pradesh
(Additional charge)
In office
28 January 2015 – 12 August 2015
Preceded byUrmila Singh
Succeeded byAcharya Devvrat
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
2009–2014
Preceded byDevendra Singh Yadav
Succeeded byRajveer Singh
ConstituencyEtah, Uttar Pradesh
In office
2004–2009
Preceded byChhatrapal Singh Lodha
Succeeded byKamlesh Balmiki
ConstituencyBulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh
16th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
In office
21 September 1997 – 12 November 1999
Preceded byMayawati
Succeeded byRam Prakash Gupta
In office
24 June 1991 – 6 December 1992
Preceded byMulayam Singh Yadav
Succeeded byPresident's rule
Leader of the Opposition
Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
In office
4 July 1993 – 12 June 1995
Chief MinisterMulayam Singh Yadav
Preceded byRewati Raman Singh
Succeeded byMulayam Singh Yadav
Minister of state for Health
Government of Uttar Pradesh
In office
1977–1980
Chief MinisterRam Naresh Yadav
Banarsi Das
Member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
In office
1985–2004
Preceded byAnwar Khan
Succeeded byPremlata Devi
ConstituencyAtrauli
In office
1967–1980
Preceded byBabu Singh
Succeeded byAnwar Khan
ConstituencyAtrauli
Personal details
Born(1932-01-05)5 January 1932
Atrauli, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India
(present-day Uttar Pradesh, India)
Died21 August 2021(2021-08-21) (aged 89)
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
Spouse
Ramwati Devi
(m. 1952; died 2021)
Children2 (including Rajveer Singh)
AwardsPadma Vibhushan (2021) (posthumous)
Source: [1]

Kalyan Singh (5 January 1932 – 21 August 2021) was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He served twice as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and as a Member of Parliament. He was the Chief minister of Uttar Pradesh during the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992. He is considered an icon of Hindu nationalism, and of the agitation to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Singh became a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh while still in school. He entered the Uttar Pradesh legislature as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Atrauli in 1967. He won nine more elections to that constituency as a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the BJP, the Janata Party and the Rashtriya Kranti Party. Singh was appointed Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the first time in 1991, but resigned following the demolition of the Babri Masjid. He became Chief Minister for a second term in 1997, but was removed by his party in 1999, and left the BJP, forming his own party.

Singh re-entered the BJP in 2004, and was elected a Member of Parliament from Bulandshahar. He left the BJP for a second time in 2009, and successfully contested the 2009 Indian general election as an independent from Etah. He joined the BJP again in 2014, and was appointed Governor of Rajasthan. He served a five-year term, and re-entered active politics in 2019. In September 2019 he was brought to trial for criminal conspiracy to demolish the Babri Masjid. He was acquitted by a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2020. He died on 21 August 2021 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. He was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award.