Sunder Lal Patwa (11 November 1924 – 28 December 2016) was an Indian politician, who served as the

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

and a cabinet minister in the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. He was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh twice, from 20 January 1980 to 17 February 1980 and from 5 March 1990 to 15 December 1992. He was a member of 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. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. He was the only politician who defeated Congress strong man

Kamal Nath Kamal Nath (born 18 November 1946; ) is an Indian politician who served as the List of chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, 18th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for approximately 15 months and resigned after a 2020 Madhya Pradesh political crisis ...

in 1997 from Chhindwara constituency for member of parliament. He was awarded

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ( , lit. "Lotus Grandeur") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons w ...

, the second-highest civilian award, posthumously in 2017 by the Government of India.

Early life

Sunder Lal Patwa was born in a Svetambara Jain family in the village of Kukreshwar located between Manasa and Rampura in the

Neemuch District Neemuch district () is one of the 55 districts of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The town of Neemuch is the administrative headquarters of the district. Asia's largest solar power plant, inaugurated by Narendra Modi, as BJP's prime minis ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

Political career

Sunder Lal Patwa was an active

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many ...

worker from 1942 to 1951. He spent six months in jail in 1948 when RSS was banned in the wake of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. In 1951, he was among the founding members of the

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 ...

, where he was general secretary of the state unit. He began his political career with

which merged with

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 ...

in 1977. Later members owing allegiance to

Hindutva Hindutva (; ) is a Far-right politics, far-right political ideology encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and the belief in establishing Hindu hegemony within India. The political ideology was formulated by Vinayak Da ...

ideology broke away from

in 1980 to form

. He was

twice, from 20 January 1980 to 17 February 1980 as member of

and from 5 March 1990 to 15 December 1992 as leader of

Bharatiya Janta 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 first elected to

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 ...

via by-poll in

Chhindwara Chhindwara is a major city in India and a Municipal Corporation in the Chhindwara district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The city is the administrative headquarters of Chhindwara District. Chhindwara is reachable by rail or road fro ...

in 1997 by defeating Congress strongman

in his home turf. He lost from

in 1998 General Election. In 1999, he was elected to the

from

Narmadapuram Hoshangabad (Hindi: ), officially Narmadapuram (), is a city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Hoshangabad district and Narmadapuram division. It is located in central India, on the south bank of the ...

constituency, and was minister in

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian poet, writer and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 ...

Government from 1999 to 2001. As a legislator, he was known as strict disciplinarian. He was associated with Indore Rajya Praja Mandal since 1941, R.S.S. since 1942 and R.S.S. Vistarak, 1947–51. He was imprisoned for seven months for participating in R.S.S. movement in 1948 and was an active worker of

since 1951, Chairman of District Cooperative Bank, Director, State Cooperative Bank and State Cooperative Marketing Sangh and Treasurer,

from 1967 to 1974. He was detained under M.I.S.A. during Emergency from June 1975 to January 1977. He was awarded the "Vidhan Gaurav" in the All India Conference of Presiding Officers, 1989. He died on 28 December 2016 in

Bhopal Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...

due to a heart attack at the age of 92.

Positions held

Patwa contested from a variety of seats and he held a variety of official posts: *1957-67 - MLA from Manasa * Lost Vidhan Sabha elections from Manasa in 1967 and 1972. *1977-1980 - MLA from

Mandsaur Mandsaur is a city and a municipality in Mandsaur district located on the border of Mewar and Malwa regions of Madhya Pradesh, a state in Central India. It is the administrative headquarters of Mandsaur District. The ancient Pashupatinath Tem ...

*1980-1985 - MLA from

Sehore Sehore is a city and a municipality in Sehore district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the district headquarters of Sehore District and is located on the Bhopal- Sehore-Indore highway, 38 km from Bhopal. History Sehore stands ...

*1985–90 - MLA from Bhojpur. But lost from Manasa. *1990–92, 1993-97 - MLA from Bhojpur *1997-1998 : Lok Sabha Member from Chhindwara (Lok Sabha constituency) by defeating

*1998-99 - MLA from Bhojpur *1999-2004 : Lok Sabha Member from Narmadapuram (Lok Sabha constituency) *1957-67 - Chief Whip, Opposition Party, Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly *1975 - General Secretary, Jana Sangh, Madhya Pradesh *1977 - Member, Working Committee, Janata Party *20 Jan 1980 - 17 February 1980 -

*1980-85 - Leader of Opposition,

Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha or the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly is the unicameral state legislature of Madhya Pradesh state in India. The seat of the Vidhan Sabha is at Bhopal, the capital of the state. It is housed in the ''Vidh ...

; chairman, Public Accounts Committee, Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly *1986 - President, B.J.P., Madhya Pradesh; Member, General Purposes Committee, Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly *5 March 1990 - 15 December 1992 -

*13 Oct 1999 – 30 September 2000 - Minister of Rural Development, in Vajpayee Govt. *30 Sep 2000 – 7 November 2000 -

Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers in India is the federal ministry with administrative purview over three departments namely: * Department of Chemicals and Petro-Chemicals *Department of Fertilizers *Department of Pharmaceuticals The m ...

, in Vajpayee Govt. *7 Nov 2000 – 1 September 2001 - Minister of Mines, in Vajpayee Govt.

Personal life

Two of his nephews entered politics on his heels. Surendra Patwa was first elected to Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from Bhojpur in 2008. He has been a minister in Madhya Pradesh state government. His nephew Mangal Patwa (1965–2015) contested elections from Manasa seat in 1998 but lost. He became President of BJP's Neemuch District unit. Mangal Patwa died in a road accident in 2015.

References

, - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Patwa, Sunder Lal 1924 births 2016 deaths Chief ministers from Bharatiya Janata Party Chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1999–2004 Madhya Pradesh MLAs 1957–1962 Madhya Pradesh MLAs 1977–1980 Madhya Pradesh MLAs 1980–1985 Madhya Pradesh MLAs 1990–1992 Lok Sabha members from Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Jana Sangh politicians Leaders of the opposition in Madhya Pradesh People from Neemuch district Chief ministers from Janata Party Janata Party politicians Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Madhya Pradesh Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in public affairs