From 'mazdoor' to CM, Babulal Gaur a leader who rose through ranks

Born in 1930 in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh, Baburam Yadav worked at Bhopal Textiles Mill and emerged as a 'mazdoor' leader after heading several movements and later went on to become the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Yadav, who later earned name and fame as Babulal Gaur, died on Wednesday at a private hospital in Bhopal after a cardiac arrest. He was a leader who rose through the ranks.A record 10-time member of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, Gaur was initially associated with left struggle movement and also worked for a brief period with Indian National Trade Union Congress but finally joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1946 and became a founder member of Rashtriya Mazdoor Sangh.

Gaur, who was detained for 19 months during Emergency period, participated in a number of national-level movements including Goa independence.

He contested his first political battle unsuccessfully in 1971 from Bhopal South constituency but never looked back after winning the seat in a by-election in 1974.Gaur fought elections from Govindpura constituency in 1977 and retained the seat till he was asked to hang his boots by the top BJP leadership in 2018 paving the way for his daughter-in-law Krishna Gaur.

Earlier, he was forced to resign as Cabinet minister in Shivraj Singh Chouhan government on age grounds.

Chouhan had asked Gaur to resign but he refused point-blank. Later, he resigned after central BJP persuaded him.

He was an exceptional leader, who worked as Cabinet minister after serving as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh from August 2004 to November 2005.

Gaur's promotion as chief minister was short of accidental in state politics as he was elected for the post after a dramatic turn of events when the then chief minister Uma Bharti had to step down from office following an arrest warrant issued against her in a case related to 1994 Hubli riots.Bharti had led BJP to sweep Assembly elections in the state in 2003. Gaur, a confidant of Bharti, was made the chief minister as a stopgap arrangement till she was cleared of the case.

In November 2005, Gaur had to resign at the behest of the BJP high command which pointed Chouhan as the BJP legislative party leader capping hectic political activity and dealing a blow to Bharti's efforts to stage a comeback.Former Madhya Pradesh BJP chief Prabhat Jha described Gaur's demise as a major loss to the party and said his life was an inspiration for lakhs of party workers."How a mazdoor can become a chief minister, is a lesson to be learnt from Gaur's life. His journey was not easy as Jan Sangh was not a major political force those days," he told ANI."

"Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, 'a tea seller can become India's Prime Minister', Gaur sahab used to say proudly that he was a mazdoor who became chief minister," Jha recalled.

"It is BJP where a tea seller can become Prime Minister and a mazdoor can become Chief Minister," he said.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said Gaur's life was full of struggles and that he was dedicated to the poor. "His contributions will always be remembered," said the minister.