Kalpanath Rai: The Man of Hopes in the Political Arena of Scopes

Desires are unfaithful indeed, they change as soon as they are fulfilled. These lines are very popular for political life, but if one significant things out of these lines is observed, the conclusion shows that we keep our wishes and expectations only from those who reflect a scope for fulfillment.

A child of a middle class family insists on the same thing which he expects he can get, like he insists on clothes or demands a toy, but he never insists upon sitting on an airplane or on a ship.

When it comes to Kalpanath Rai, how can the Nath (Lord) of Mau be forgotten who provided Mau status of a district, due to whom Mau district got more budget than the other three districts that were formed at the same time. Just as an average person wins a lottery and the fortunes of his generations change, in the same manner, Kalpanath Rai helped reach, not hundreds but thousands of families and their generations, from the bottom to the top. He neither saw caste nor religion, nor color nor creed, if he saw anything,  it was the person’s sorrow and sufferings.

The political braveheart was a lawyer

Kalpanath Rai was born on January 04, 1941 in Semri Jamalpur Gram Sabha of Azamgarh district in the then British Empire and the great soul died of a heart attack on August 6, 1999. It was Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital where at the age of 58, he breathed his last. He held MA and LLB degrees and also worked as a lawyer for some time in Allahabad High Court.

The most important thing about Kalpanath Rai is, he always worked wholeheartedly to bring into reality what he had imagined.

Started career with student politics

Although Kalpanath Rai was politically active from his student days, in 1959 he was elected as President of Shibli PG College, Azamgarh and in 1962 as General Secretary of Gorakhpur University. Nevertheless, it took many attempts for him to enter the Parliament through Rajya Sabha in the year 1974. And the sound of his knock on the door of the House was so loud that it was heard throughout his life and he remained an MP all through his life, handling several ministries of the country as well during his political journey.

Kalpanath Rai was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1974 – 1980, 1980 – 1986, 1986 – 1989 and the Lok Sabha from 1989 – 1991, 1991 – 1996, 1996 – 1998, 1998 – 1999. He was Union Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Affairs Minister and Industry Minister in 1982–83, Union Minister of State (Parliamentary Affairs) in 1982–84, Union Minister of State (Power) in 1988–89, Union Minister of State (Energy and Non-Conventional Energy Sources) in 1991–92 (Independent Charge), Union Minister of State for Energy (Independent Charge) in 1992-93, Union Minister of State for Food (Independent Charge) in 1993-94 and was also a member of several important committees and sub-committees during his parliamentary tenure.

Struggle began from childhood

The tale of Kalpanath Rai’s struggles commenced after the death of his parents at an early age, he struggled at every stage of his life. Due to his struggles and sacrifices, epitome of his excellence in the form of development he kept carrying out, has no match even today.

There would not have been three overbridges within a radius of three kilometers in the capital of Uttar Pradesh itself, and at the same time Kalpanath Rai had constructed three overbridges within a radius of three kilometers in Mau with his own efforts. Be it the Collectorate Complex or the Polytechnic. The ITI, District Jail, Agricultural Research Center, Doordarshan Kendra, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kalpavatika, Mau Railway Station, dozens of telecommunication centers, half a dozen power sub-stations, Vikas Bhavan were all built by him.

The Solar Village was his historic gift

In 1992, he had converted Sarayshadi, a village in Mau district, into a solar village, where all the electrical appliances used to run on solar energy. At the same time, he started a double-decker bus in Mau district which ran on solar energy. He himself checked the standard of the road built from Mau to Madhuban by placing a cup of tea inside his vehicle to check e if there was any pothole left. This was the reason, people used to come from neighboring districts to see the same road constructed by him.

His dream was to develop Mau on the lines of Singapore, but his demise at the young age of just 58 was a very sad moment for the whole country including Uttar Pradesh because he carried out many historic works in the field of energy and alternative energy, which benefited the whole country.

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The news headlines hailed his popular existence

In the early 90s, Kalpanath Rai organized a program of the Congress Party, which was losing mass base in Uttar Pradesh, in Lucknow, in which around 5 lakh people gathered in the state capital. This day all routs to Lucknow were jammed for around twenty kilometers. And the very next there were headlines of the newspapers saying – ”Kalpanath Rai can be the next chief minister of the state”.

He was such a stalwart of Indian politics who openly opposed three Prime Ministers directly, but the level of opposition from one of the Prime Ministers got so intense that he had to lots of trouble. He set an example by winning the 1996 Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate while being in jail.

If Kalpanath Rai’s vision could come into existence after his demise, today Uttar Pradesh would have been an agriculture-oriented state and an industrial-oriented state as well.