Suraj Bhan

For the archaeologist, see Suraj Bhan (archaeologist).

Suraj Bhan (1 October 1928 – 6 August 2006) was an Indian politician who was elected to the Lok Sabha, Indian lower house of parliament, for four terms from Ambala. He also served as the Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha from July 1996 to December 1997. He served as governor of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Bihar.

Suraj Bhan
Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes
In office 2004 - 2006
Succeeded by	Buta Singh
14th Governor of Himachal Pradesh
In office 23 November 2000 – 7 May 2003
Chief Minister	Prem Kumar Dhumal Virbhadra Singh
Preceded by	Vishnu Kant Shastri
Succeeded by	Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje
23rd Governor of Uttar Pradesh
In office 20 April 1998 – 23 November 2000
Chief Minister	Kalyan Singh Ram Prakash Gupta Rajnath Singh
Preceded by	Mohammad Shafi Qureshi (Acting)
Succeeded by	Vishnu Kant Shastri
Governor of Bihar (Additional Charge)
In office 6 October 1999 – 23 November 1999
Chief Minister	Rabri Devi
Preceded by	B.M. Lall (Acting)
Succeeded by	V. C. Pande
11th Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha
In office 12 July 1996 – 4 December 1997
Speaker	P. A. Sangma
Preceded by	S. Mallikarjunaiah
Succeeded by	P. M. Sayeed
22nd Minister of Agriculture
In office 16 May 1996 – 1 June 1996
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded by	Jagannath Mishra
Succeeded by	H. D. Deve Gowda
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 1967-1971; 1977-1980; 1980-1984; 1996-1997
Constituency	Ambala
Leader of Opposition of Haryana Assembly
In office 1989-1990
Revenue Minister (Haryana)
In office 1987-1989
Personal details
Born	(1928-10-01)1 October 1928 Yamunanagar, British India
Died	6 August 2006(2006-08-06) (aged 77) Delhi, India
Cause of death	Cardiac arrest
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party

Personal life

Bhan was born on 1 October 1928, in Mehlanwali, Yamuna Nagar district of Haryana and studied MA and LLB at Punjab University and Kurukshetra University.^[1]

Political career

Suraj Bhan Banswal, started his public life as a volunteer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.^[2] He started his political career with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh which eventually became the Bharatiya Janata Party and dropped his last name "Banswal" after joining active politics. He represented the Ambala parliamentary constituency of Haryana in the 4th (1967–1970), 6th (1977–1979), 7th (1979–1984) and the 11th Lok Sabhas (1996–1997). In 1987, he was elected to Haryana assembly and served as Revenue Minister in Devi Lal's government between 1987 and 1989. After the BJP broke alliance with Devi Lal's party, he served as Leader of Opposition in the Haryana assembly (1989–1990). He was appointed State President of BJP Haryana Unit in 1984.^[3]

In 1996, he was named Agriculture minister in the First Vajpayee Ministry after which he served as deputy speaker of the 11th Lok Sabha, during the United Front government (Jul. 1996 to Feb. 1997). He contested 1998 Lok Sabha elections, but lost to Aman Kumar Nagra of the BSP. Afterwards, he took over as Governor of Uttar Pradesh (Apr. 1998 - Nov. 2000), Himachal Pradesh (Nov. 2000 - May 2003), and officiated as Governor of Bihar (1999).^[4]

In 2002 Dr Suraj Bhan also joined the race for the post of Vice-President of the country following re-thinking in the BJP over the candidature of former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Certain senior Dalit leaders of the Congress unofficially conveyed that Sonia Gandhi had no objection to Dr Suraj Bhan's candidature.^[5]

In February 2004, he was appointed Chairman of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) Commission. He died of cardiac arrest following multiple organ failure on 6 August 2006 in New Delhi, while serving as the SC/ST Commission Chairman. He was aged 77.