View source for Devi Lal

{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name          =  Devi Lal 
|native_name   = 
|image         = Chaudhary Devi Lal 2001 stamp of India.jpg
| image_size = 240px
|caption       = Chaudhary Devi Lal on a 2001 stamp of India
|office        = 6th [[Deputy Prime Minister of India]]
|primeminister = [[V. P. Singh]]<br />[[Chandra Shekhar]]
|term_start    = 2 December 1989
|term_end      = 21 June 1991
|predecessor   = [[Yashwantrao Chavan]]
|successor     = [[L. K. Advani]]
|office2       = [[List of Chief Ministers of Haryana|5th Chief Minister of Haryana]]
|governor2     = Muzaffar Husain Burney <br />Hara Anand Barari 
|term_start2   = 17 July 1987
|term_end2     = 2 December 1989
|predecessor2  = [[Bansi Lal]]
|successor2    = [[Om Prakash Chautala]]
|governor3     = [[Jaisukh Lal Hathi]]<br />[[Harcharan Singh Brar]]
|term_start3   = 21 June 1977
|term_end3     = 28 June 1979
|predecessor3  = [[Banarsi Das Gupta]]
|successor3    = [[Bhajan Lal]]
|birth_name    = Devi Dayal Sihag
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1914|9|25|df=y}}
|birth_place   = [[Sirsa district|Teja Khera]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[British India]] <br />(now in [[Haryana]], [[India]])
|death_date    = {{death date and age|2001|4|6|1914|9|25|df=y}}
|death_place   = [[New Delhi]], [[India]]
|party         = [[Indian National Lok Dal]] (1996–2001)
|otherparty    = [[Indian National Congress]] (before 1971)<br/>[[Independent (politician)|Independent]] (1971–1977)<br/>[[Janata Party]] (1977–1987)<br/>[[Janata Dal]] (1988–1990)<br/>[[Samajwadi Janata Party]] (1990–1996)
|}}

'''Chaudhary Devi Lal''' (born '''Devi Dayal'''; 25 September 1914 — 6 April 2001) was an Indian [[politician]]. He served as 6th [[Deputy Prime Minister of India]] from 1989 to 1991 under [[V. P. Singh]] and [[Chandra Shekhar]].<ref name=nytdevilal>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/16/world/devi-lal-86-expert-in-weaving-his-way-through-indian-politics.html |title=Devi Lal, 86, Expert in Weaving His Way Through Indian Politics |first=Paul |last=Lewis |work= NY Times |date=16 April 2001|access-date=5 March 2020}}</ref><ref name="toidevilal">{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/devi-lal-original-tau-of-indian-politics-popular-farmer-leader/videoshow/65937369.cms |title=Devi Lal: Original Tau of Indian politics, popular farmer leader |work= Times of India| date=25 September 2018| access-date=5 March 2020}}</ref> He is popularly known as '''Tau''' (uncle). Devi Lal came out as [[farmer]] leader from the state of [[Haryana]]. He served as the Chief Minister of [[Haryana]] first in 1977-79 and then in 1987-89.<ref name="toidevilal"/>

==Personal life==
Chaudhary Devi Lal was born in Teja Khera village of [[Sirsa district]] in present-day Haryana to Shunga Devi and Lekh Ram Sihag. Lekh Ram was a [[Jat]] of Chautala village. He owned 2750 bighas of land. Lal received education up to middle-school.<ref>{{cite book|title=History of Sirsa Town|year = 1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G0Z457ZOR44C&pg=PA241|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri|page=241}}</ref> His son, [[Om Prakash Chautala]] also served as Haryana's chief minister four times.

In 1928 at the age of 16, Devi Lal participated in [[Indian independence movement|independence struggle]] event by Lala Lajpat Rai. He was a student of "''Dev Samaj Public High School Moga''" in [[Moga]] during his 10th class. He was arrested at Congress office in 1930. He quit studies and joined the  freedom movement. He also took [[wrestling]] lesson at an Akhara in Badal village of [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]]. He was first elected [[:Category:Members of the Lok Sabha|MLA]] in 1952.<ref name=polly4>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Om-Prakash-Chautalas-ancestors-came-from-Rajasthan/articleshow/18175626.cms |title=Om Prakash Chautala's ancestors came from Rajasthan |work=The Times of India |date=25 January 2013 |access-date=22 September 2019}}</ref>

His older brother Sahib Ram Sihag was the first politician from the family. Sahib Ram Sihag became [[:Category:Members of the Lok Sabha|Congress MLA]] from [[Hisar]] in 1938 and 1947.<ref name=polly1>{{cite news|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/bahu-naina-broke-glass-ceiling-of-chautala-family-politics-5553039/ |title=Bahu Naina broke glass ceiling of Chautala family politics |work=The Indian Express |date=24 January 2019 |access-date=22 September 2019}}</ref> Lal had four sons - Partap Singh, Om Prakash Chautala, Ranjit Singh and Jagdish Chander. His eldest son, Partap Singh, was an MLA from Indian National Lok Dal in the 1960s.<ref name="polly3">{{cite news|date=15 November 2018|title=In Chautala, villagers say family feud no surprise|work=The Indian Express|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/in-chautala-villagers-say-family-feud-no-surprise-5447040/|access-date=22 September 2019}}</ref>

==Independence movement==
Lal was a follower of [[Mahatma Gandhi]]. He was involved in the struggle for India's independence from the [[British Raj]]. Both he and his elder brother, Sahib Ram, left their studies unfinished to take part in the freedom movement.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

For this, he was sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment and sent to [[Hissar]] jail on 8 October 1930. He took part in the movement of [[1932]]. He was then kept in Sadar Delhi Thana (Jail). In 1938 he was selected delegate of [[All-India Congress|All-India Congress Committee]]. In March 1938, his elder brother was elected a [[:Category:Members of the Lok Sabha|Member of the Legislative Assembly]] in a by-election on the [[Indian National Congress|Congress party]] ticket. In January 1940, Sahib Ram courted arrest as a ''[[satyagrahi]]'' in the presence of Lal and over ten thousand people. He was fined Rs 100 and sentenced to 9&nbsp;months imprisonment.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Lal was arrested again on 5 October 1942. He then kept in jail for two years for taking part in the 1942 [[Quit India]] movement. He was released from prison in October 1943. He negotiated [[parole]] for his elder brother. In August 1944, [[Chhotu Ram]], the then Revenue Minister, visited [[Chautala]] village. He, along with Lajpat Rai Alakhpura, made efforts to woo both Sahib Ram and Lal to desert Congress and join the [[Unionist Party (Punjab)|Unionist Party]]. But both workers, being dedicated freedom fighters, refused to leave the Congress Party.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

==Post independence==
=== Pre-1960: Punjab Assembly politics ===
After independence, Lal emerged as a popular farmer leader in the 1950s and started a farmers' movement, for which he was arrested along with his 500 workers. After some time, then chief minister, [[Gopi Chand Bhargava]], made an agreement and the Muzzara Act was amended. He was elected a member of the [[Punjab Assembly]] in 1952 and President of the Punjab Congress in 1956.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} In 1958, he was elected from [[Sirsa, Haryana|Sirsa]].

=== Pre-1980: Haryana Assembly politics===
He played an active role in making [[Haryana]] a separate state. In 1971, he left Congress. In 1972 [[Vidhan Sabha]] elections, he argued over unsuccessfully against the two Congress heavyweights. One was Bansi Lal in Tosham (Vidhan Sabha seat) and another was Bhajan Lal in Adampur seat.<ref>https://eci.gov.in/files/file/3818-haryana-1972/</ref> In 1974, he successfully contested in the Rori constituency. In 1975, [[Indira Gandhi]] declared [[The Emergency (India)|the Emergency]]. Lal along with all opposition leaders were jailed for 19 months. In 1977, the emergency ended and [[General election|general elections]] were held. He was elected on the [[Janata Party]] ticket from [[Bhattu Kalan]]. He then became the [[Chief Minister of Haryana]]. As the chief minister of Haryana he made several decisions benefiting farmers and rural people.<ref name="toidevilal" />

=== Post-1980: national and state politics ===
He remained a [[:Category:Members of the Lok Sabha|Member of Parliament]] from 1980 to 1982. He was a member of State assembly between 1982 and 1987. He formed [[Lok Dal]]. He started Nyaya Yuddh (en. battle for justice), under the banner of Haryana Sangharsh Samiti. In the 1987 state elections, the alliance led by Lal won a record victory winning 85 seats in the 90 member house. Congress won the other five seats. Lal became the chief minister of Haryana for the second time. In the [[1989 Indian general election|1989 parliamentary election]], he was simultaneously elected, both from [[Sikar]], Rajasthan and [[Rohtak]], Haryana.

He went on to become deputy prime minister of the country from 1989 to 1991.<ref name="toidevilal"/>

He was elected to [[Rajya Sabha]] in August 1998. Later, his son [[Om Prakash Chautala]] also became the chief minister of Haryana.<ref name="The Jat patriarch">{{cite journal|title=The Jat patriarch|url=http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1809/18091200.htm|journal=Frontline|volume =18|issue =9|date=April 2001|author=Sukumar Muralidharan}}</ref>

== Death and legacy ==
His popularity among farmers and rural people earned him the title of 'Tau' (Elder Uncle). Lal died on 6 April 2001 at the age of 85. He was cremated at [[Raj Ghat and other memorials|Sangarsh Sthal]] on the banks of the river [[Yamuna]] in New Delhi. "Kisan Ghat" is the samadhi of another popular leader of the farmers, [[Charan Singh]], the fifth [[Prime Minister of India]].
==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Other websites==
{{Commons category|Chaudhary Devi Lal}}
*[http://inld.co.in Official website of Indian National Lok Dal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111041409/http://inld.co.in/ |date=2016-01-11 }}
*{{Britannica|328330}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Banarsi Das Gupta]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Chief Ministers of Haryana|Chief Minister of Haryana]]|years=1977–1979}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Bhajan Lal]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Bansi Lal]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Chief Ministers of Haryana|Chief Minister of Haryana]]|years=1987–1989}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Om Prakash Chautala]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Yashwantrao Chavan]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Deputy Prime Minister of India]]|years=1989–1991}}
{{s-aft|after=[[L. K. Advani|Lal Krishna Advani]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{Deputy Prime Ministers of India|state=expanded}}

[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian Deputy Prime Ministers]]
[[Category:Politicians from Haryana]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the Lok Sabha‎]]