Motilal Vora (20 December 1928 – 21 December 2020) was an Indian politician belonging to the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

(INC). He served as

Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh The chief minister of Madhya Pradesh is the chief executive of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the ch ...

(1985–1988; 1989). He was born in Nimbi Jodha, Jodhpur State, British India. He was also Governor of Uttar Pradesh from 1993 to 1996.

Early life

Vora was born on 20 December 1928 at

Nimbi Jodha Nimbi Jodha is a sub tehsil of Ladnu tehsil, Nagaur District of Rajasthan State, India. It belongs to Ajmer Division. It is located 75 km east of the district headquarters, Nagaur, and 51 km from Salasar Balaji. History Nimbi Jo ...

Jodhpur State Kingdom of Marwar, also known as the Jodhpur State under the British, was a kingdom in the Marwar region from 1226 to 1818 and a princely state under British rule from 1818 to 1947. It was established in Pali by Rao Siha, possibly a m ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

Rajputana Agency The Rajputana Agency was a political office of the British Indian Empire dealing with a collection of native states in Rajputana (now in Rajasthan, northwestern India), under the political charge of an Agent reporting directly to the Governor ...

(present-day

Nagaur district Nagaur district is one of the 33 districts of the state of Rajasthan in western India. Panchayati Raj was introduced here. It is the fifth largest district in Rajasthan and the area of the district is . The city of Nagaur is the district hea ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

) to a Pushkarna Brahmin family. His parents were Mohanlal Vora and Amba Bai. His forefathers came from Nimbi Jodha, and prior to that from

Phalodi Phalodi is a town and a municipality in Jodhpur district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is the headquarters for Phalodi tehsil. Phalodi is also called the "salt city" due to the salt industry in Rin. Phalodi is in the buffer zone of Tha ...

. He received his education at

Raipur Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Ch ...

and

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. He had also worked with several newspapers for many years. He married Shanti Devi Vora. The couple have four daughters and two sons. His son Arun Vora is an MLA from Durg (CG), having won three elections as MLA. His brother Govindlal Vora was Veteran Journalist and Chief Editor of Amrit Sandesh. His nephew Rajeev Vora is Secretary of

Pragati College of Engineering and Management, Raipur Pragati College of Engineering and Management (PCEM) was an engineering college located in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India. The college is affiliated to the Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University and approved by All India Council of T ...

State politics

In 1968, Vora, then, a member of

Samajwadi party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as well. With a ...

, became a member of the Municipal Committee of Durg (then part of Madhya Pradesh). In 1970 (approximately), he, with the help of Prabhat Tiwari, was introduced to Pt. Kishorilal Shukla of INC and joined INC. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly (

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

) of Madhya Pradesh in 1972 on an INC ticket. He was elected to Vidhan Sabha again in 1977 and 1980. He was appointed a minister of State in Arjun Singh's Cabinet, and was in-charge of the Higher Education Department. He was elevated to the Cabinet Minister in 1983. He also served as the Deputy Chairman of Madhya Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation during 1981–84. On 13 March 1985, Vora was appointed Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. He resigned from the post of Chief Minister on 13 February 1988, to join the Union Government.

National politics

On 14 February 1988, Vora became a member of the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, and assumed the office of Union Minister of Health, Family Welfare and Civil Aviation. He was a cabinet minister in

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

. He was appointed Governor of Uttar Pradesh on 16 May 1993 and held office until 3 May 1996. Motilal Vora was in 1998–99 Member of the

12th Lok Sabha This is the list of members of the 12th Lok Sabha, (10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999) after the 1998 Indian general election held during February–March 1998. This was the second consecutive Lok Sabha, like the 11th Lok Sabha elections that d ...

Role in the Indian National Congress

Vora was very close to High Command of INC, and has supported nomination of

Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president o ...

as the party's Prime Ministerial candidate. In the 1980s, he served as the President of the

Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) is the Pradesh Congress Committee (state wing) of the Indian National Congress (INC) serving in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Current President of MPCC is Kamal Nath. Structure and composition Madhya ...

, the party's state unit. Vora held important positions in all the three entities involved in the National Herald Case: the Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the Young Indian and the

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...

(AICC). He became the chairman and managing director of AJL on 22 March 2002. He served as the AICC treasurer before that. He was a 12% shareholder and a Director of Young Indian.

Death

Vora died from complications from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

, one day after his 92nd birthday.Congress veteran Motilal Vora dies at 93 of post-Covid complications
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References

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