Bhagwat Jha Azad was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. He served as Chief Minister of Bihar from 14 February 1988 to 10 March 1989.[1][2] He was at various times a member of parliament and a member of the Bihar state legislature.
Political career
Azad was a 20-year-old college student when he took part in a demonstration as part of the Quit India Movement in 1942. He was hit by a bullet in his leg,which incident made him famous in the press. After this,there was no going back for the young man,and a glittering political career was born. Later,Azad was also arrested several times by the British.[3]
Independence came in 1947,exactly five years after the Quit India Movement,and Azad was advantageously poised to make a career in politics. He was part of an influential cohort of politicians from Bihar who gained prominence on the national stage during the post-independence stage,known as the "Young Turks." He was a contemporary of Bindeshwari Dubey,Abdul Gafoor,Chandrashekhar Singh,Satyendra Narayan Sinha and Kedar Pandey (all future chief ministers of Bihar);and of Sitaram Kesri,future national president of Indian National Congress.[citation needed]
Azad represented Bhagalpur constituency in the Lok Sabha for five terms.[4] He was elected to the third,fourth,fifth,seventh and eighth Lok Sabha. He served as a Union minister of state from 1967 to 1983 in the ministries of agriculture,education,labour and employment,supply and rehabilitation,civil aviation and food and civil supplies. He was a veteran Congressman,and Chief Minister of Bihar between 14 February 1988 and 10 March 1989.[4]
Well known cricketer Kirti Azad and ex IPS officer Yashovardhan Azad are his sons.
Bhagwat Jha Azad died in 2011 aged 89. He had been ailing for several years.[citation needed]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
