Chanakya of HP politics always dreamt of becoming CM
: Counted among the most formidable political forces in the hill state, Pandit Sukh Ram, who breathed his last on Wednesday morning, will be remembered for his Chanakyalike acumen, and for ushering in the telecom revolution in India.
His political career, spanning six decades, started as a secretary in the Mandi municipal council. He later he went on to become the Union telecom minister. The veteran leader was credited with bringing telephones to every nook and cranny of hill state. However, the scandal associated with it left a lasting taint on him.
He was reputed to be politically invincible as he served as an MLA for five terms and an MP for three terms. The only time he lost an election was 1989. Remarkably, he also won during the Janata Party wave in 1977.
Born to a family of modest means in Kotli village on the outskirts of Mandi, Pandit Sukh Ram went on to become a kingmaker. After graduating from Delhi Law College, he practised at the Mandi district courts for some time before joining the town’s civic body as a secretary. However, he had to step down after irregularities were detected in the working of the municipal council.
He started his political journey in the 1963 assembly bypoll as an independent candidate. Against all odds, the greenhorn, who projected himself as a champion for the poor, thwarted Congress’ Krishnanand, establishing himself as a political force to be reckoned with.
In 1967, he was re-elected on a Congress ticket. During his tenure as excise and taxation minister, he was accused of carrying out illegal recruitments, encroaching on government land and unauthorised felling of trees.
After establishing Mandi as his political bastion, he turned his gaze towards national politics in 1984. Amid the antiCongress wave, Sukh Ram lost from Mandi in 1989, only to win it back in 1991.
The next year, he was on the cusp of becoming the chief
minister of Himachal Pradesh, but his political rival Virbhadra Singh, a scion of the RampurBushahr royal family, threw a wrench into the works, which led to a long-running political rivalry.
Telecom scam, ouster and comeback
It was during his tenure as Union telecom minister that cellular services were launched in the country. On July 31, 1995, then West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu made the first mobile phone call in the country, which was received by Sukh Ram. The same year Sukh Ram was charged with taking bribes to favour a few companies. A CBI raid on his official residence led to the recovery of ₹2.45-crore unaccounted cash and another ₹1.16 crore was found in his house in
Mandi. He blamed his rival and former chief minister Virbhadra Singh for the episode.
He was in London when the warrant was issued against him and he was arrested upon his return. However, Sukh Ram bounced back with the launch of his own party, the Himachal Vikas Congress in 1997. It won five seats in the 1998 assembly elections.
In a post-poll alliance, he helped the BJP form a government. Prem Kumar Dhumal became the chief minister, and Sukh Ram cemented his legacy as a kingmaker.
In return for his help, the BJP sent his son, Anil Sharma, to the Rajya Sabha.
The telecom scam came to haunt Sukh Ram, who was awarded a five-year jail term. However, he was granted bail on health grounds.
Political manoeuvres
VETERAN LEADER WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED FOR BRINGING TELEPHONES TO EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY OF HILL STATE; HOWEVER, THE SCANDAL ASSOCIATED WITH IT LEFT A LASTING TAINT ON HIM
In the 2003 assembly elections, Sukh Ram’s Himachal Vikas Congress managed to get only one seat, which he won in Mandi. However, before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, he merged the Himachal Vikas Congress with the Congress, making peace with Virbhadra Singh.
After Sukh Ram retired from active politics, Sharma won the Mandi seat in 2007 and 2012 and also served as a minister in the Virbhadra Singh-led government. Sharma won the seat for the first time in the 1993 assembly election when his father was an MP.
Just before the 2017 assembly elections, Sukh Ram and his son joined the BJP after being snubbed by Virbhadra during Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Mandi.
Anil won from Mandi on a BJP ticket and became a minister in the Jai Ram Thakur government.
However, he had to step down after Sukh Ram and his grandson Aashray Sharma again pledged support to the Congress just before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Aashray contested from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket losing to BJP’s Ram Swaroop Sharma by a margin of nearly four lakh votes. The election also marked the end of Sukh Ram’s dominance over Mandi politics.