R.L.P. Verma (1 February 1938 – 15 January 2004) was a former member of

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

and a leader of

Bhartiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...

. He was elected to Lok Sabha from

Kodarma Kodarma (also spelled as Koderma) is a city and a notified area in the Koderma subdivision of the Koderma district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is also the administrative headquarter of Koderma district. Demographics As per the 2 ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

state in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

for six terms. Verma represented Jamua Assembly constituency once, from where he was elected in legislative assembly elections in 1972, on the ticket of

Bhartiya Jana Sangh The Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh) was a Hindutva political party active in India. It was established on 21 October 1951 in Delhi by three founding members: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Balraj Madhok and Deendayal Up ...

. However, on the call of

Jai Prakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and independence activist. He is mainly remembered for leading th ...

for

Total Revolution The Bihar movement, also known as the JP movement, was a political movement initiated by students in the Indian state of Bihar against misrule and corruption in the state government, in 1974. It was led by the veteran Gandhian socialist Jayaprak ...

, he resigned from his legislative assembly membership and became a part of the "Sampurna Kranti movement". He was made a candidate of

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 ...

for Lok Sabha elections in 1977, and was subsequently elected to lower house of Indian Parliament. Verma has represented Kodarma Lok Sabha constituency for five terms, making him the longest serving Member of Parliament (MP) from this constituency. He was one of the two Member of Parliament of

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...

during transformation of

Jana Sangh The Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh) was a Hindutva political party active in India. It was established on 21 October 1951 in Delhi by three founding members: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Balraj Madhok and Deendayal ...

into

. Verma played instrumental role in strengthening

and later

in Bihar-Jharkhand region.

Biography

Verma was born to B.M Kushwaha, in an agrarian family belonging to

Koeri The Koeri (spelt as Koiry or Koiri), also referred to as Kushwaha and more recently self-described as Maurya in several parts of northern India are an Indian non-elite caste, found largely in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, whose traditional oc ...

caste. He studied at

Patna University Patna University is a public state university in Patna, Bihar, India. It was established on 1 October 1917 during the British Raj. It is the first university in Bihar and the seventh oldest university in the Indian subcontinent in the modern e ...

and later Ranchi University. A holder of

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

and L.L.B degrees, he also got a diploma in

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

. Before working as full time politician, he was a professional lawyer. He took participation in '

' movement of

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...

, during which, he was imprisoned for 19 month. He was also sent to jail thrice for agitation on

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

issue. Verma was also associated with

Trade Unionism A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

and farmers' right movements. He was convenor of Bharat Sevak Samaj, an organisation based in

Giridih Giridih is headquarters of the Giridih district of Jharkhand state, India. The city of Giridih is known for its industrial and health sectors, as well as its scenery. Giridih houses the Giridih Coalfield which is one of the oldest coalfields to ...

. Verma was also associated with organisation called Farmers' Liberation Front and served as president of

Mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into fragile elastic plates. This characteristic is described as ''perfect basal cleavage''. Mica is co ...

Workers Trade Union between 1970 and 1975. He was also the president of ''Steel Workers Revolutionary Trade Union'' based in Bokaro. Between 1968 and 1972, Verma worked as president of

Bharatiya Jana Sangh The Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh) was a Hindutva political party active in India. It was established on 21 October 1951 in Delhi by three founding members: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Balraj Madhok and Deendayal ...

(B.J.S.), for the district of Giridih in Jharkhand (then Bihar). He also served as Joint Secretary of Bihar wing of Bhartiya Jana Sangh, between 1969 and 1977. He was elected to

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the bicameral Bihar Legislature of the state of Bihar in India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is ...

for the first time during 1972–74. As a member of Indian Parliament, he has also served as member of various financial committees. Verma was first elected to

, the lower house of Indian Parliament in 1977. As a member of

6th Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. The 6th Lok Sabha, which ran from 23 March 1977 to 22 August 1979 was elected in February and March 1977. 11 sitting members from Rajya Sabha were elected to 6th ...

, he served as a Member of Committee on Estimates between 1978 and 1979. In 1980, he was again re-elected to

7th Lok Sabha The 7th Lok Sabha, (18 January 1980 – 31 December 1984) was elected in 1980 Indian general election. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India nine sitting members from Rajya Sabha were elected to 7th Lo ...

for his second term. Between 1980 and 1982, he remained a member of Consultative Committee of Ministry of Railways. In the meantime, he was raised to the post of Secretary of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(B.J.P.), Bihar. As a member of BJP, he was re-elected to

9th Lok Sabha The 9th Lok Sabha (2 December 1989 – 13 March 1991) was elected during elections in 22–26 November 1989. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. Twelve sitting members from Rajya Sabha were elected ...

for his third term as Member of Parliament. Owing to his political height, he was made Mahamantri of Bihar wing of B.J.P between 1989 and 1991. Between 1990 and 1991, he remained a part of Committee of Privileges of parliament. In between 1993 and 1995, he was holding the post of vice-president, B.J.P for Bihar, and from 1995, Secretary of Bihar BJP. In 1996, he was re-elected to

11th Lok Sabha The 11th Lok Sabha was constituted after April–May 1996 general elections. The result of the election was a hung parliament, which would see three Prime Ministers in two years and force the country back to the polls in 1998. Atal Bihari Vajpa ...

for his fourth term as MP. He was again re-elected to

12th Lok Sabha The 12th Lok Sabha (23 March 1998 – 26 April 1999), was constituted 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 did not provide the ...

in 1998, making it his fifth term as MP. In the aftermath of this election, he again served as member of various committees of parliament. In 1999, Verma threatened to leave BJP, as he was upset over the fact that an ordnance factory, which was about to be established in his constituency, was set up in constituency of

George Fernandes George Mathew Fernandes (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian politician, trade unionist, statesman, and journalist, who served as the Minister of Defence (India), Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. A veteran socialist, h ...

. During his last days in Bhartiya Janata Party, he was cornered by a rival group within the party. As a result of this, he left BJP and became a part of

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (; ) is a political party in the Indian state of Jharkhand, founded by Binod Bihari Mahato, Shibu Soren, and A. K. Roy. Hemant Soren is the president of the JMM. JMM is also an influential political party in the state ...

. He also played important role in Jharkhand movement. He died in 2004. In 2014, his son Pranav Verma also contested the

elections from Kodarma, but was defeated.

Socio-cultural activities

He led establishment of a number of high schools and colleges in his constituency. It is reported that due to his efforts, Jharkhand got a railway line (294 - km. long) laid from

Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...

via

Hazaribagh Hazaribagh is a city and a municipal corporation in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is also the administrative headquarters of Hazaribagh district and divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is known ...

town and

. Verma also played important role in bringing many irrigation projects and reservoir schemes in area. He also pitched for an ordnance factory, to be established in his constituency. He also set up

water treatment plants Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, inc ...

, telephone kendras (telephone centres) and power houses in the region and provided assistance to drought-affected persons.

Books authored

He also took interest in literary pursuits; some of the books authored by him are: (i) Goraksha Sandesh (A collection of poems);(ii) Madhyawadhi Chunav; Ek Shadyantra; (iii) Lav Kush Aikikaran; (iv) Laloo Tantra Banam Lok Tantra; (v) Satta Ki Chhina Jhapti; (vi) Dharam Nirpeksh Shaktiyoan Ka Sanyukta (Islami) Morcha; (vii)Vananchal; and (viii)Vananchal Prathak Rajya (both under print)(all in Hindi). He was also the Chief Editor of weekly magazine ''Ekikaran Manch'' and monthly issue of ''Manch Prabha'' and ''Vyapar Pradarshak'' (all in Hindi). He composed several poems and contributed articles to the newspapers. Verma also produced a documentary film called Janata Yug in 1979.

Personal life

Verma's brother,

Jagdish Prasad Kushwaha Jagdish Prasad Kushwaha was an Ayurveda practitioner and politician from Jharkhand, India. He was a leader of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, considered as one of the early leaders of Sangh, who played significant role in establishing it in Kodarma Lok Sab ...

, who was an

Ayurved Ayurveda (; ) is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practised throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda. The theory and practice of ayur ...

practitioner was considered as one of the tallest leader of

. Latter had played significant role in establishing Jana Sangh in United Bihar. Kushwaha's son,

Jai Prakash Verma Jai Prakash Verma was a member of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly from Gandey Assembly constituency. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); he rejoined the BJP in 15 September 2024. He was a member of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in 20 ...

, who is the nephew of Rati Lal Prasad Verma was a former member of Jharkhand Legislative Assembly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verma, R.L.P. People from Kodarma 1938 births 2004 deaths India MPs 1977–1979 India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 Lok Sabha members from Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Jharkhand Janata Party politicians Bharatiya Lok Dal politicians People from Jharkhand Bharatiya Jana Sangh politicians

Biography

Socio-cultural activities

Books authored

Personal life

See also

References