Balbir Singh Rajewal is an Indian politician and the founder of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Rajewal gained popularity after his active participation in the 2020 Indian farmers’ protests. In December 2021, he became the chief ministerial candidate of the Samyukta Samaj Morcha (SSM) party for the 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Balbir Singh Rajewal was born on Friday, 20 August 1943 (age 78 years; as in 2021) in Rajewal, Ludhiana, Punjab. His zodiac sign is Leo. After attending AS Senior Secondary School in Khanna, Ludhiana district of Punjab, he joined AS College, Khanna.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 8″
Hair Color: Gray
Eye colour: black
Family
parents and siblings
Balbir Singh Rajewal was born in a Sikh family in Ludhiana, Punjab. His father Asa Singh was a farmer. There is not much information about his mother. He grew up with two elder brothers. Rajewal’s entire family has been active in farmer movements to such an extent that once his father, brother and even sister-in-law had to go to jail while fighting for agricultural rights.
wife and children
Balbir Singh Rajewal is married. He has a son who left his job as a commercial pilot to take up farming.
livelihood
Rajewal started his career as a telegraphist, but he resigned in 1968. He is also a former employee of Punjab Telephone Department. Later, he started farming in his native village Rajewal in Ludhiana, Punjab. Additionally, he also owns two rice mills located near Rajewal. For some time, he also worked as an “Aadhtiya” (commission agent) in Khanna Mandi, Ludhiana. Soon, he left the profession to align himself with the farmers’ union members. He holds the position of Chairman in the Management Committee of Malwa College Bondli-Samrala, Punjab, a premier educational institution in the Samrala region.
Malwa College Bondli-Samrala
Rajewal runs an honesty stationery shop named “Sach Di Dukan” (Shop of Truth) for the students in his village. The shop is not operated by any shopkeeper. Instead, it has a box in which customers can voluntarily deposit money for purchased items.
activism
An accomplished orator, Rajewal has been a farm union leader in Punjab since the 1970s. In 1972, eleven farmer groups in Chandigarh joined hands to form the Punjab Khetibari Zamindari Union, which was later named the Punjab Khetibari Union (PKU). Rajewal was one of the founding members of the association. In December 1978, PKU was renamed Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) to create a national platform for farmers. After this Rajewal was appointed Secretary of BKU. At BKU, Rajewal worked with famous Indian farmer leaders like Mahendra Singh Tikait, Sharad Anantrao Joshi and Narayan Swamy, who actively participated in farmer movement campaigns. After being associated with BKU (Lakhowal) and then BKU (Maan) from 1974 to 1988, in 2001 he formed his own organization, BKU (Rajewal). In 1974, when farmers were banned from selling their wheat outside the state, he led a movement. Rajewal actively participated in the movement, defying regional restrictions on the sale of wheat. Rajewal drafted the constitution of the Khetiwari Sangh, which was adopted by the BKU in 1978. He fought on the issue of electricity charges for farmers in 1983. Although various farmer groups seceded from BKU in 1988, Rajewal’s association with BKU remained intact. In 2013, he sat on a hunger strike demanding relief for farmers under the Drought Fund and relief in tube well bills. His persistence succeeded in getting relief worth Rs. Rs 800 crore for farmers.
Balbir Singh Rajewal (in orange turban) sitting on hunger strike in 2013
In 2020, a protest was launched against the Indian Agriculture Act 2020, often called the Farm Bills, which was introduced by the Parliament of India in September 2020. Soon after the Farm Bill was introduced, several unions started holding local protests in Punjab. After two months of protests, farmer unions, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, including thousands of farmer union members, marched towards the country’s capital Delhi, where they coordinated non-violent resistance on the city’s borders. Various BKU factions, including the BKU (Rajewal) headed by Balbir Singh Rajewal, joined the protest.
Farmer leaders Rakesh Tikait and Balbir Singh Rajewal at the Ghazipur border during the 2020 Indian farmers’ protest.
Earlier, BKU (Rajewal) was not much organized and was mainly active in Patiala, Sangrur, Mohali, Ropar, Ludhiana, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Firozpur, Nawanshahr, Jalandhar and several districts of Malwa region. However, it quickly grew to become one of the leading farmer organizations of Punjab during the 2020 Indian farmers’ protests. BKU (Rajewal) workers used to stage dharna, especially against BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal leaders, whenever they came to Punjab to participate in any political function or event. This significantly increased Rajewal’s fame as a prominent farmer leader of Punjab, as earlier he was considered more of a businessman. Rajewal’s skillful representation of the farmers’ viewpoint played an important role during negotiations with the government regarding the farm bills. Additionally, his leadership skills came in handy for the planning and implementation of the protests. In November 2020, amid the protests, an alliance of over forty Indian farmer unions was formed, called the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), with Rajewal as a key leader. During the protest, he expressed his views about the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 and said that farmers have been exercising their right to sell their agricultural produce anywhere in the country since 1976. Alleged that Modi government has introduced agricultural bills to promote corporates. Explaining the redundancies of the bill in an interview, he said,
We had secured the facility in 1976, when the court had given freedom to farmers to sell anywhere, but this government only wanted to promote corporates. The laws were not for the welfare of farmers, but for the welfare of corporates.”
In a televised address on 19 November 2021, Narendra Modi announced that the government would repeal the farm bills.
Politics
Although he had shown flexibility in his political leanings over the past decades, ranging from Congress to Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party, he was against any political involvement until the farm laws were formally repealed on 29 November 2021 . In 2002, Rajewal supported the Congress government on some farmer issues, but when they refused to release Rs. The farmers demanded Rs 110 crore as compensation for the loss of paddy, against which they launched a movement. In 2014, then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal offered Rajewal the post of “Halka Prabhari” (constituency in-charge) from Samrala Assembly constituency, which Rajewal refused to accept as he did not want to contest the election. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections, Rajewal started supporting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and later, he displayed close ties with Shiromani Akali Dal president Captain Amarinder Singh. When the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections were approaching, AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had reportedly offered Rajewal to be his CM candidate, but under pressure from farmer unions, he did not accept it. On December 26, 2021, twenty-two SKM factions led by Rajewal formed their own political front called Samyukta Samaj Morcha (SSM), announcing their intention to contest the 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly elections. It was announced that the SSM would contest from all constituencies in the 117-seat Punjab Assembly.
controversies
- Allegations of raising money from NRIs: In early December 2021, Jagjit Singh Dallewal of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Sidhupur, while addressing the media, claimed that various factions of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) had received a lot of money from NRIs. . living abroad. In the video, Dallewal claimed that he did not ask for a single penny from NRIs during the 2020 Indian farmers’ protests. In an indirect reference to Balbir Singh Rajewal, who is expected to contest the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, Dallewal said,
Some of us are very eager to become the Chief Minister.
Apart from this jibe, Dallewal requested the NRIs, who had shown generosity by providing funds during the protests, to refrain from sending any money to political parties contesting the elections.
- Jailed for participating in various protests: Rajewal has been jailed several times for raising agricultural issues. Rajewal was jailed during the 1974 movement that was launched against regional restrictions imposed on farmers to sell their wheat outside the state.
- Allegation of making a secret pact with Amit Shah: On 29 December 2021, Sukhbir Singh Badal, an Indian politician and president of Shiromani Akali Dal, alleged that Balbir Singh Rajewal had made a secret pact with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, thereby weakening the party. It was done. When the protests of Indian farmers were at their peak. While addressing the media persons, Sukhbir Singh Badal said,
The contents of the letter, which is now in the public domain, are even more shocking. They point out that Rajewal and his close group were willing to sacrifice the welfare of farmers and even agreed to partial rollback of the farm laws in direct violation of the public stance of the Kisan Andolan (farmers’ protest) Were. The three black laws should be completely withdrawn.”
property/property
Balbir Singh Rajewal owns 60 acres of land in his native village Rajewal in Ludhiana, Punjab.
Facts/General Knowledge
- Ironically, a few months before forming his own organization BKU (Rajewal), Balbir Singh had opposed Haryana farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni over his political ambitions.
- On 13 December 2021, Sahnewal Municipal Council along with Gurdwara Reru Sahib Committee and Kar Seva Community honored Balbir Singh Rajewal for his activism during the Indian farmers’ protests.
Balbir Singh Rajewal honored by Municipal Council Chairman Sukhjit Singh Hara along with Kar Seva Chief Baba Major Singh in December 2021
- On 20 December 2021, Balbir Singh Rajewal was honored by Muslims at Jama Masjid in Ludhiana, where he paid tribute to the late Shahi Imam of Punjab Maulana Habib ur Rehman Sani Ludhianavi.
Balbir Singh Rajewal honored by Muslim community at Jama Masjid, Ludhiana in 2021
- Upon the formation of the new political party SSM, SKM distanced itself from it. A statement was issued by the coordination committee of SKM prohibiting the use of SKM’s logo by any political party.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn