Banarasi Das, popularly known as Babu Banarasi Das (8 July 1912 – 3 August 1985) was an Indian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh is the head of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. As per the Constitution of India, the Governor (India), governor is the state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minis ...

. He was from

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

Career

Banarasi Das was a freedom fighter. He went to jail many times during

India's freedom struggle The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

. He was elected to Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha in 1977 as member of Janata Party from Hapur or Khurja, both those seats having elected a member named Banarsi Das. He was

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

from 28 February 1979 to 17 February 1980. He joined Charan Singh's

Janata Party (secular) The Janata Party (Secular) was an Indian political party founded by Raj Narain in July 1979. On 16 July 1979, Chaudhary Charan Singh assumed its leadership and became the Prime Minister of India on 28 July 1979 with the support of the Indian N ...

when the Janata Party split. He lost 1980 Vidhan Sabha election.

Personal life

Banarasi Das was born in Utarawli,

Bulandshahr Bulandshahr, formerly Baran, is a city and a municipal board in Bulandshahr district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Bulandshahr district and part of Delhi NCR region. According to the Governme ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. Banarasi Das was married and had five sons and five daughters. Two of his sons followed his footsteps. The elder one Harendra Agarwal was the former member of legislative council & is active in Indian politics. The youngest son Late Dr

Akhilesh Das Gupta Akhilesh Das Gupta (31 March 1961 – 12 April 2017) was an educationist, professor, and Indian politician. He was the son of Freedom Fighter Babu Banarasi Das, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He was the president of Badminton Associat ...

was a former

Rajya sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

MP and ex national general secretary of

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP) is a political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), along with Religious ...

and was Minister of State in Manmohan singh government.Cong MP quits party, attacks Rahul `coterie`
Sify.com. Retrieved on 8 November 2018.

Legacy

An Indian postal stamp featuring Das was issued in 2013.

Babu Banarasi Das University, Lucknow Babu Banarasi Das University (also known as BBD University) is a private university with its main campus in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, established by Akhilesh Das in 2010 and named after his father Babu Banarasi Das, the former Chief Minis ...

, and

Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium is an indoor sports venue in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. It is commonly used for the indoor sports including Kabbadi, Badminton and Table Tennis. Home team Awadhe Warriors is a badminton team who is based at the ...

in Uttar Pradesh are named in his honor.

References

External links

Short biography

Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh
1912 births 1985 deaths People from Bulandshahr Chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1977–1980 Speakers of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Chief ministers from Janata Party Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh Janata Party politicians Janata Party (Secular) politicians Lok Dal politicians Politicians from Varanasi {{JP-politician-stub