Kamal Nath: The Man Who Halted 15 Year BJP Mega-Show In Madhya Pradesh (Image: Instagram/KamalNath
One year and three months: From December 17 of 2018 to March 23 in 2020. The time period was much crucial for the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh as the region had witnessed an unforeseen political transformation. Ending the eighteen-year-long Chief Ministerial term of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Indian National Congress (INC) leader Kamal Nath took the oath and led the new cabinet during this time.
It was on December 12, 2018, after several fluctuations in the counting figure, the INC emerged the single largest party of the state with 114 seats in their bag. The major opposition, the BJP, was just behind with 109 seats and Madhya Pradesh witnessed a hung parliament. The state has 230 assembly seats in total and needed 116 seats for a majority. INC claimed supports of one MLA from Samjawadi Party, two from Bahujan Samajwadi party, and four independent MLA’s to form the government.
Kamal Nath assumed the office of Chief Minister on December 17, 2018. But fate not supported him to complete at least two years in the position as he lost majority in the assembly after 22 Congress MLAs resigned along with Jyotiraditya Scindia. The government eventually collapsed and Kamal Nath resigned from his position on March 20, 2020.
Kamal Nath, the 18th Chief minister of the largest state in central India, was born on November 18, 1946 in Kanpur. His father was a businessman who was associated in firms like movie distribution, publishing etc. He was graduated from the St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, and had close ties with the Nehru-Gandhi family. Sanjay Gandhi was his schoolmate while studying in Dehradun.
Kamal Nath was first elected to the 7th Lok Sabha from the Chhindwara constituency in 1980, and was re-elected to the 8th, 9th, and 10th Lok Sabha’s in 1984, 1989, and 1991 respectively. He held the position for thus to four consecutive terms spanning sixteen years in total. He served as the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment and Forests in 1991 and from 1995 to 1996, one year, he was the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Textiles.
He was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998 and 13th in 1999. From 2001 to 2004, he served as the General Secretary of INC and re-elected to the 14th Lok Sabha in 2004. For the term, he was the Union Cabinet Minister of Commerce and Industry. Kamal Nath repeated the same in 2009 elections and re-entered the Union Cabinet as the minister of Road Transport and Highways. As a result of the Cabinet reshuffle in 2011, he took the ministership of Urban Development and replaced Telangana’s Jaipal Reddy.
In 2012, he was additionally designated as the minister of Parliamentary Affairs and in 2014, he became the Pro Tem Speaker. By this expertise over an extensive period of time, Kamal Nath is regarded as one of the longest serving and most senior members of the Lok Sabha.
It was in December 13, 2018 he was elected to the Chief Ministerial position of Madhya Pradesh. But soon the government faced a crucial situation and lost majority following the resignation of 22 Congress MLAs from the assembly along with Jyotiraditya Scindia. He resigned from the position approximately after 15 months of service, unable to overcome the political crisis. Jyotiraditya Scindia then joined BJP and is currently the Union Minister of Civil Aviation in the second Narendra Modi government.
Kamal Nath is a strong proponent of economic development in India and do well in analysing market strategies for developing countries in the area of agriculture. He always argued for the strengthening of international co-operation in India and emphasised several infrastructural developments in the country.
