Senior Congress Leader And Former Union Home Minister Buta Singh Passes Away

A former Union Home Minister and senior Congress leader Buta Singh passed away today (Jan 2). He was 86.

A prominent Dalit leader who hailed from the Mazhabi Sikh community, Buta Singh made his first electoral foray as an Akali Dal member but later joined the Indian National Congress in the late 1960s at the time when that party was split.

Buta Singh served as the Agriculture Minister between 1984 and 1986 in the cabinet of late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. He was later elevated as the Home Minister and held the portfolio between 1986 and 1989. In November 1989, Rajiv Gandhi deputed Buta Singh, to Ayodhya to participate in the Shilanyas ceremony of the temple.

Buta Singh was forced to quit from the Narasimha Rao government, where he was civil supplies minister, in early 1996 after his name cropped up in the Jain Hawala case.

Buta Singh rebelled against the Congress leadership and contested as an independent from Jalore Lok Sabha seat Rajasthan in 1998. He extended outside support to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and was inducted as communications minister. However, he was forced to resign within a month after charges were framed against him in the JMM bribery case. Both Buta Singh and Narasimha Rao were subsequently convicted in the JMM case in 2000.

Buta Singh was elected to the Lok Sabha eight times between 1962 and 1999. He suffered a defeat in 2004 Lok Sabha election in Jalore Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan.

Buta Singh was also Bihar governor from 2004 to 2006 during Dr Manmohan Singh-led UPA 1 government. He forced to resign in 2006 after the Supreme Court censored him for hastily dissolving the state Assembly in an alleged attempt to prevent Nitish Kumar from becoming chief minister.

Buta Singh was also appointed as the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes between 2007 and 2010.

During his tenure as chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, CBI arrested his son Sarabjot Singh in an alleged corruption case. Sarabjot was arrested for allegedly demanding bribe of Rs one crore from a Nasik-based contractor to close a case registered against him.

In Oct 2015, Buta Singh rejoined the Congress. He had left the party in 2009 to contest as an independent candidate in Lok Sabha election

Buta Singh founded Safai Mazdoor Congress which he claimed as an organisation working for the welfare of sanitation workers.