Shri Krishna Sinha (21 October 1887 – 31 January 1961), also known as Shri Babu, was the first

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 terri ...

of the

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

n state of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

(1946–61). Except for the period of World War II, Sinha was the chief minister of Bihar from the time of the first Congress Ministry in 1937 until his death in 1961. Along with the '' Desh Ratna'' Rajendra Prasad and ''Bihar Vibhuti'' Anugrah Narayan Sinha (A.N. Sinha), Sinha is regarded among the 'Architects of Modern Bihar'. He also led the

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming a ...

entry into the Baidyanath Dham temple ( Vaidyanath Temple, Deoghar), which reflected his commitment towards the upliftment and social empowerment of the Dalits. He was the first chief minister in the country to abolish the

zamindar A zamindar (Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

i system. He underwent different terms of imprisonment for a total of about eight years in

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 ...

. Sinha's mass meetings brought hordes of people to hear him. He was known as ''Bihar Kesari'' for his lionlike roars when he rose to address the masses. His close friend and eminent Gandhian ''Bihar Vibhuti'' A.N. Sinha in his essay ''Mere Shri Babu'' wrote that, ''"Since 1921, the History of Bihar has been the history of the life of Shri Babu"''. The former

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

, released a book on the letters of exchange between Sinha and prime minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

titled ''Freedom and Beyond''. The correspondence between Nehru and Sinha touches on subjects such as Indian democracy in the making in early years of Independence, Centre-State relations, role of governor, turbulence in Nepal, zamindari abolition and education scenario. Sinha was known for his scholarship and polymathy and he had given his personal collection of 17,000 books to the public library in Munger in 1959 which is now named after him as ''Sri Krishna Seva Sadan''.

Early life and family

Shri Krishna Sinha was born in a Bhumihar Brahman family on 21 October 1887 in the village of Maur,

Barbigha Barbigha is a city and a municipality in the Sheikhpura district of Bihar, India. It is well connected by road to the state capital of Patna. National highways NH33 and NH333A also pass through Barbigha, and Bihta-Sarmera four lane state highway ...

in the Munger district of

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

(now part of

Sheikhpura district Sheikhpura district is one of the thirty-eight districts of the Indian state of Bihar. Sheikhpura is the administrative headquarter of this district. Sheikhpura district is a part of the Munger division. Sheikhpura was split from the Munger ...

). His mother, who was also an unassuming and religious-minded person, died of plague when he was five years old. He was educated in the village school and at Zila School in Munger. In 1906 he joined Patna College, which was then an affiliate of the University of Calcutta. He obtained a master's degree from the University of Calcutta and then doctorate of law from Patna University and started practicing in Munger from 1915. In the meantime, he married and had two sons, Shivshankar and Bandishankar (more commonly known as Swaraj Babu) who later held various posts in the state government.
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Independence movement

Shri Krishna Sinha first met

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure ...

in 1916 at Central Hindu College, Benares and later at Shah Muhammad Jubair's house in December 1920. At Munger, he vowed to work relentlessly to free India from the British rule. He gave up practising law in 1921 to take part in Gandhi's

non-cooperation movement The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance. He was arrested for the first time in 1922 at Jubair's house and Congress

Seva Dal The Seva Dal is the grassroots front organization of the Indian National Congress. The organization has a chapter in all the states of India. The members of the organization are known for wearing the Gandhi topi. It is headed by a Chief Organ ...

was declared illegal. For this he was known as ''Bihar Kesari'' by the people. He was released from jail in 1923 and on the day of Tulsi Jayanti performed in the play ''Bharat Darshan'' at Central School, Kharagpur. In the same year he became member of 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 ...

. In 1927, Sinha became member of the Legislative Council and in 1929 became General Secretary of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC). In 1930, he played an important role in the Namak Satyagrah at Garhpura. He suffered severe scalding injuries to his hands and chest while being arrested, was imprisoned for six months and then was again arrested and imprisoned for two years during the civil disobedience movement. He was released after the

Gandhi–Irwin Pact The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was a political agreement signed by Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Irwin, Viceroy of India, on 5 March 1931 before the Second Round Table Conference in London. Before this, Irwin, the Viceroy, had announced in October 1929 a ...

and again started with his nationalist work and work with the Kisan Sabha. On 9 January 1932 he was sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1,000. He was released from

Hazaribagh Hazaribagh is a city and a municipal corporation in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is the divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is considered as a health resort and is also popular for Hazar ...

Jail in October 1933. He was involved in relief and rehabilitation after the 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake. He was the President of Munger Zila Parishad from 1934 to 1937. In 1935, he became member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Sinha was also the President of the BPCC in 1936 with A.N. Sinha as his deputy, a member of its working committee and in fact, Sinha and A.N. Sinha were the life and soul of the Provincial Working Committee and of the Congress organisation in the state for over thirty years. This long period of service at the help of the state is a proof not only of the great popularity and confidence which he enjoyed in the party but it symbolises also his great qualities as a co-ordinator between party and government. On 20 July 1937, he became the Premier of Bihar province when Congress came to power. Under the Government of India Act of 1935, Sinha formed his Cabinet at

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

on 20 July 1937. He and his colleague A.N. Sinha disagreed with the governor on the issue of the release of political prisoners and resigned. The then-governor had to accede to the demands for release of prisoners from Cellular Jail (Kalapani) and Bihar Tenancy Act was reformed in favour of peasants. They then resumed office. But they again resigned in 1939, as did all Congress chief ministers, over the question of involving India in the Second World War without the consent of the Indian people. Along with A.N. Sinha,the first deputy chief minister cum finance minister of Bihar, he is considered one of the makers of modern Bihar. Sinha was always interested in self-study and his ideas and speeches were noted for their wisdom. He was a staunch opponent of castes and defended the oppressed. Impressed by his courage, in 1940 Gandhi described him as "the first

Satyagrah Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone wh ...

i" of Bihar while A.N. Sinha was the second. He was jailed for nine months (22 November 1940 – 26 August 1941). When the

Quit India The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

movement started in 1942, he was arrested on 10 August. He was released in 1944 from Hazaribagh jail after he became seriously ill. In the same year his wife died at

Prince of Wales Medical College Patna Medical College and Hospital (abbreviated as PMCH) was established in 1925 and originally known as Prince of Wales Medical College, is a medical college located in Patna, the state capital of Bihar, India. It is located on the southern b ...

. As the former chief minister of Bihar he attended the Simla Conference and also became the member of

Constituent Assembly of India The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the 'Provincial Assembly'. Following India's independence from the British rule in 1947, its members served as the nation's first Parliament as ...

which framed the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ...

. Sinha served Bihar continuously from 1946 until his death on 31 January 1961 at the age of 73. In 1978, the Ministry of Culture established a science museum called Srikrishna Science Centre. The biggest conference hall in Patna, Shri Krishna Memorial Hall is also named after him.

Political Legacy

Almost all the development projects in Bihar during this period involved the leadership pair of Sinha and A.N. Sinha. It includes several river valley projects right from Koshi, Aghaur and Sakri to other such river projects. The first five-year plan period was given to the development in rural development works mainly in the agricultural sector. Bihar became the top state in the country's first five-year plan. From the second five-year plan period, Sinha brought several heavy industries like

Barauni Refinery Barauni Refinery is an oil refinery located in Begusarai city in the state of Bihar, operated by Indian Oil Corporation. It was the dream project of Shri krishna Sinha the first chief minister of Bihar. It was built in collaboration with the ...

, Heavy Engineering Corporation at

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital 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 Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

, Bokaro Steel Plant, Barauni Fertiliser Plant, Barauni Thermal Power Station,

Damodar Valley Corporation Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) is a government-owned power generator which operates in the Damodar River area of West Bengal and Jharkhand states of India. The statutory corporation operates both thermal power stations and hydel power st ...

Patratu Thermal Power Station Patratu Thermal Power Station is a coal-based thermal power plant located near Patratu town in Ramgarh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. The power plant is operated by the Jharkhand State Electricity Board. Capacity It has an installed c ...

, Scooter Factory in Fatuha, Pyrite Phosphate Chemical Limited and Sulphur mines at Amjhaur, Sindri Fertiliser Plant, Kargali Coal Washery, Garhara locomotive shed. He wanted to build an industrial corridor from Begusarai-Bakhtiyarpur-Fatuha, so he constructed the first rail-road bridge on river Ganga in independent India, The Rajendra Setu in Mokama,in 1959. Arun Kumar says Sinha made an immense contribution in the cultural and social development of the state. He established the Rajendra Chatra Niwas at

Calcutta 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, comm ...

for Bihari students, the Anugraha Narayan Sinha Institute of Social Studies (ANSISS) at Patna, Netarhat school at

, Engineering college at Muzaffarpur,

Bhagalpur Bhagalpur is a city in the Indian state of Bihar, situated on the southern banks of the river Ganges. It is the 2nd largest city of Bihar by population and also the headquarters of Bhagalpur district and Bhagalpur division. Known as the Sil ...

, Jamshedpur, Sindri,

Gaya Gaya may refer to: Geography Czech Republic *Gaya (German and Latin), Kyjov (Hodonín District), a town Guinea * Gaya or Gayah, a town India *Gaya, India, a city in Bihar **Gaya Airport *Bodh Gaya, a town in Bihar near Gaya *Gaya district, Bi ...

, Motihari, Lok Rangshala of the Bihar Bhartiya Nritya Kala Mandir, Sanskrit College at Patna, Rabindra Parishad at Patna, the statue of Buddha at ''

Rajgir Rajgir, meaning "The City of Kings," is a historic town in the district of Nalanda in Bihar, India. As the ancient seat and capital of the Haryanka dynasty, the Pradyota dynasty, the Brihadratha dynasty and the Mauryan Empire, as well as t ...

Venu Van Vihar'', as well as an orphanage at Muzaffarpur were opened by him. The then prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru sent Paul H. Appleby to assess the administration in states and in his famous report, he described Bihar as the best governed state in India due to the under excellent leadership of the pair of Sinha and A.N. Sinha. In a formal legal sense, the chief minister can be persuaded or forced in the interim to resign or retire by the legislature to which the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible. Sinha successfully defied a motion of no-confidence on five occasions. Sinha maintained good working relations with the secretariat officials and protected police from demoralization because police, having done away with pre-independence legacy no longer symbolised tyranny, domination, intimidation and oppression. He emphasised that in democratic India, policemen symbolised efficiency, service, protection, and help to the people. Caste played no role in promotion, transfer, posting and in working relationship of police officials with ministers or the chief minister in the fifties. S.Q. Rizvi, a retired senior

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Raj. Along with the Indian Administ ...

official, said, "About the qualities of head and heart of this great man, it could be summed up in three words '

Humanism Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

Integrity Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. In ...

and

Secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a si ...

'. Dr. Shri Krishna Sinha was a great leader and a great idealist endowed with great intellectual attainments. But what to me appeared the most prominent feature was that as a politician he had absolute integrity. A rare quality in a political leader of an area besieged with problems of caste and of low level mental make-up." Sinha was a progressive leader who introduced substantive land reform legislations at the early period of Bihar's history. He favoured the growth of agricultural capitalism and he wanted to do away with the constraints and hindrances in the way of the growth of productive forces in agriculture, but some critics thought he was less enthusiastic about post-zamindari agrarian reforms. Yet, leftists grant credit to Sinha for getting the Bihar Tenancy Act passed in the early years. Justice

V. R. Krishna Iyer Justice Vaidyanathapuram Rama Krishna Iyer (15 November 1915 – 4 December 2014) was an Indian judge who became a pioneer of judicial activism. He pioneered the legal-aid movement in the country. Before that, he was a state minister and poli ...

said that Sinha was among those who were "heavyweights in their own right and brought into political administration a texture of nationalism, federalism, realism, and even some touch of pragmatic socialism", and that he "lived poor, died poor and identified himself with the poor." The present Chief Minister of Bihar,

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unit ...

, while observing Sri Babu's 124th Birth Anniversary in 2011, also attended by

Sushil Modi Sushil Kumar Modi (born 5 January 1952) is an Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party who is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from Bihar. He is a former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar as well as the Finance Minister of Bihar ...

, Jagannath Mishra, Ramashray Prasad Singh, Mahachandra Prasad Singh and others said, ''"Mr. Sinha's contributions, as the first Chief Minister of Bihar, cannot be over-stated. He was the first one to sow the seeds of progress in the state by taking series of agricultural and industrial initiative in the Bihar state but it was unfortunate that successive governments after his tenure could not capitalize on it and wasted the opportunity that landed the state in dire economic agricultural and social state and both of Sri Krishna Sinha and Anugrah Narayan Singh administrative skills are yet to be matched."''

Indian National Congress Resolution on conferring Bharat Ratna to Sri Babu

A unanimous resolution was also adopted to confer Bharat Ratna to ''Bihar Kesari'' Sri Babu at

Sadaqat Ashram Sadaqat Ashram is located in Patna, Bihar, beside the main road of Digha area, on the banks of the River Ganges, almost seven kilometres from the airport. This was one of the residences of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, ...

, the Congress headquarters in Patna attended by veteran party leaders like former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, former Kerala & Nagaland Governor Nikhil Kumar, former union minister of state

Shakeel Ahmad Shakeel Ahmad (born 2 January 1956) was a member of the 12th and 14th Lok Sabha of India. He was a general secretary of the Indian National Congress (INC). Political career Ahmad was first elected as MLA in 1985, and thereafter in 1990 and 20 ...

, former union minister of state K.K.Tiwary, Congress legislature party leader in the state assembly & former Speaker Sadanand Singh, and National Media Panelist Prem Chandra Mishra , and the AICC general secretary and in charge of Bihar,

C. P. Joshi Dr. C. P. Joshi (born 29 July 1950) is an Indian politician. He was born in a Brahmin family in Nathdwara, Rajasthan and he is a member of the Indian National Congress. He is the current Speaker of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly. Previousl ...

, among others who spoke on Shri Babu's profile and his contributions to social and economic development of the state of Bihar. They, in their turn, recalled several state and national leaders of the party cutting across religion and castes established and promoted by Sinha based on their merit.

Bharatiya Janata Party on Sri Babu

The

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. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

also organised a function to celebrate the birth anniversary of Sri Babu. The BJP functionaries who addressed the function included Rajya Sabha member and senior BJP leader

C. P. Thakur Dr Chandreshwar Prasad Thakur or C. P. Thakur (born 3 September 1931) is a former member of Rajya Sabha, a former minister in the Government of India, a physician and a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was a cabinet minister from 1999 ...

, leader of opposition in the state assembly Prem Kumar and former Union minister Sanjay Paswan. The party's senior functionaries on Sunday hailed the state's first CM, Sinha, a Congress man, as the tallest leader who achieved all-round development of the state under his rule. On the 127th Birth Anniversary of Sinha in 2014, the present minister of communication (independent charge) and minister of state for railways in prime minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

's Cabinet, Shri Manoj Sinha praised Sinha for being a practitioner of good governance from the day he took over the reins of the state. He said, ''"Today everybody in the country and the world over has been talking about good governance. Sri Babu was its 'pratimoorti (embodiment)'"''. The minister, who is a Member of Parliament from Ghazipur in UP, surprised the audience by saying that his elder uncle had been Sinha's private secretary for five years. He said, ''"Sri Babu, earlier, was influenced by

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined t ...

and

Surendranath Banerjee Sir Surendranath Banerjee often known as Rashtraguru ( bn, Rāṣṭraguru, Teacher of the Nation; 10 November 18486 August 1925) was Indian nationalist leader during the British Rule. He founded a nationalist organization called the Indian N ...

, and pledged in the Ganga at Munger to dedicate his life to the service of the country, holding a copy of the Gita in one hand and a 'kripan' in another. Later, he came under the spell of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and was considered a 'garam dal neta' like him. However, in 1916, he heard the speech of Mahatma Gandhi at Kamakhya. There he realized that this man alone could lead the struggle for country's independence. After that, he became his lifelong follower."''

References

External links

Sri Babu & Anugrah BabuBihar's first exemplary government:The Sri Babu-Anugrah Babu regimeRajendra Prasad :Letters to Sri Babu & Anugrah Babu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinha, Sri Krishna 1887 births 1961 deaths Indian independence activists from Bihar Indian National Congress politicians Chief Ministers of Bihar Finance Ministers of Bihar Members of the Constituent Assembly of India University of Calcutta alumni Bihar district councillors People from Munger district People from Nawada district Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India Bihar MLAs 1952–1957 Bihar MLAs 1957–1962 Chief ministers from Indian National Congress